Java warned of iminent blackouts
The Jakarta Post, Banjarnegara/Semarang/Bandung
Disruptions in power supplies are imminent in West Java, Central Java and Banten amid the prolonged dry season, which has caused water shortages in the provinces.
The drought has made the amount of water in three large dams -- Kedungombo, Gajahmungkur and Tulis -- in Central Java drop from the normal levels.
Hydropower plants at the three dams, which supply electricity to the provinces, had to stop operations due to the insufficient amount of water.
However, power supplies remain safe providing no interruptions occur in the Java-Bali power grid, which is interconnected to other power plants.
"If hydropower plants fail due to low water levels in the dams, we still have plants that generate electricity from other sources that are able to replace them," said Embut Subianto, a spokesman for state electricity company PT PLN in Central Java.
Apart from that, each of the three hydropower plants only produce 100 megawatts per day, he said.
"So there is no significant correlation between the failure of the three dams during the current dry season with power supplies," added Mulyono, general manager of PT Indonesia Power based in Banjarnegara, Central Java.
However, PLN has asked people in Central Java to be prepared for power blackouts at anytime if consumer load becomes too heavy.
In West Java, PLN has begun to use power plants owned by private factories to help with power supplies in the province.
Agus Pranoto, PLN's distribution chief for West Java and Banten provinces, said the decrease in water levels in Saguling, Jatiluhur and Cirata dams had forced his company to use private power plants.
The dams have reduced electricity production by 1,780 megawatts to only 1,200 megawatts per day, he said in Bandung, West Java, on Friday after signing a memorandum of understanding with steel company PT Krakatau Steel in Banten.
"The hydropower plants at the three dams can still operate, but we are declaring it an emergency situation," Agus said.
Under the memorandum, Krakatau Steel agrees to lend its power plant to PLN to produce electricity for parts of Banten at night, when it normally does not operate.
The company's power plant is capable of producing electricity for PLN's approximately 150,000 customers with a household capacity of between 450 watts and 900 watts in Banten.
Agus said PLN was also exploring the possibility of using the power plant of pulp and paper company PT Indah Kiat.
Last week, the government said water shortages had become serious on Java island, including in the capital city, which could threaten power supplies in the coming months.
"We have found that the drought in a number of areas on the island is pretty bad," State Minister of the Environment Nabiel Makarim said on Monday.
An official of the Ministry of Resettlement and Regional Infrastructure, Roestam Syarief, earlier said that water supplies from Jatiluhur Dam in West Java to Jakarta's state tap water firm PDAM had decreased to 60 percent of the normal amount.
The water level in Jatiluhur Dam was 84.5 meters as of Aug. 5, down from the usual 94.19 meters.