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.