No blackouts during general election: PLN

No blackouts during general election: PLN

Fitri Wulandari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Power blackouts, which on normal days irk consumers, could bring
have more serious consequences during the elections, when the
public tend to be more suspicious: it could be considered an act
of sabotage by certain parties or jeopardize ballot counting.

However, state-owned electricity firm PT PLN assured the
public on Monday that there would be no blackouts.

Basuki Prajitno, PLN's general manager for power plant and
load management said the firm has taken measures to ensure there
would be sufficient power during the elections despite the fact
there is no fresh supply from new power plants.

"PLN would be able to supply 14,766 Megawatts (MW) for Java-
Bali with a peak load expected to stand at 13,500 MW from March 4
to April 12," Basuki told reporters during a visit by Minister of
Energy and Mineral Resources Purnomo Yusgiantoro at PLN's Jakarta
office.

Operation reserves during the period would reach 1,200 MW or
double the required minimum reserve of 615 MW to avoid
disruption, Basuki said.

March and April would be a busy time for the nation as
political parties campaign for legislative seats from March 11
until a week before the ballot day on April 5.

Fresh power supply would not come into the Java-Bali grid
until June when the repowering of Muara Tawar power plant (858
MW) is complete.

On the ballot day, Basuki said peak load would stand at 10,700
MW or lower than normal working days.

"PLN would maximize the performance of existing power plants,"
Basuki explained.

Herman Darnel Ibrahim, PLN's director of transmission and
distribution, said although power supply has been improving
compared to previous years, it was still vulnerable to
disruption.

To prevent blackouts during the election, particularly during
the vote counting using computers, PLN has prepared maximum
security for vital installations.

For the office of the General Elections Commission (KPU) in
Jakarta, the center of vote counting, power supply would be
provided by the Muara Karang and Tanjung Priok power plants,
which are backed up by generators and Uninterruptible Power
Supply (UPS).

A team of PLN engineers will stay at KPU around the clock to
watch out for possible power disruption.

PLN operating costs would increase, Herman said, but PLN will
make more revenue from additional power demands from political
parties. Fuel costs are expected to increase by 10 percent from
Rp 150 billion a day during the normal days.

With regards the power supply for Java Bali system, Basuki
said power supply was expected to improve this year with power
reserves reaching 1,246 MW, double the minimum reserves needed to
avoid disruption.

"If one power plant fails, power needs can still be met by
other power plants," Basuki said.

According to data released by the ministry on Monday,
installed capacity in the Java-Bali power system is expected to
reach 19,809 MW by the end of this year with a reserve margin of
26 percent. Last year, the capacity stood at 15,499 MW.

Fresh supply would come from the 858-Megawatt (MW) Muara Tawar
power plant in Bekasi, West Java, the 80-MW Pemaron power plant
in Bali -- both owned by PLN -- and a number of power projects
owned by independent power producers (IPP) with a combined
capacity of 3,360 MW.

In 2003, the country's total installed capacity stood at
35,986 MW. It consisted of 21,112 from PLN's power plants, 11,514
MW from captive power, and 3,360 from power plants owned by
IPPs.