PLN allots $15m to deal with Y2K

PLN allots $15m to deal with Y2K

JAKARTA (JP): State electricity company PT PLN announced on
Monday a US$15 million budget allocation to upgrade its computer
system in anticipation of the millennium bug.

PLN's division head for information systems Sunggu A.
Aritonang, which coordinates the company's Y2K task force, said
the firm earmarked $6.5 million of the budget from its own
resources and received the remaining $8.5 million in soft loans
from the World Bank and Asian Development Bank.

Aritonang said PLN launched the Y2K compliance program in late
1997.

It has listed all software and hardware which would be
vulnerable to Y2K problems by the turn of the year. It is now in
the phase of replacing and upgrading the software and hardware.

The company expects to finish final operation trials on the
upgraded system late this year.

"We want to tell our customers that we have been preparing for
the millennium bug," Aritonang said.

Y2K problems are expected to arise from the inability of some
computers and computer systems to recognize the date 2000 because
they were programmed to read only the last two digits of a year.

The glitch may cause computers to malfunction or shut down.

Aritonang said PLN's survey showed the millennium bug may
affect the company's power generation system, power distribution
system and billing system.

Aritonang said that of PLN's 4,443 power generators across the
country, about 94 percent were not prone to the Y2K problems due
to their manual operations. These power generators are mostly
located in remote areas.

The remaining 6 percent, which are mostly located in Java and
Bali, would be vulnerable because of their computerized system.

He said in implementing the Y2K compliance program, PLN was
focusing on power generation and distribution systems on the
Java-Bali grid due to the huge volume of power.

PLN's power generators in both islands have the power
generation capacity of 15,000 megawatts (MW) or 80 percent of the
country's total power generation capacity.

PLN's Y2K task force found PLN's power plants on both islands
were able to generate 9,000 MW through manual operations.

"Given that peak load on the Java-Bali power interconnection
is estimated at 7,500 MW on Jan. 1, 2000, (PLN) will still have
adequate power reserves," Aritonang said.

He also said the Java-Bali interconnection held computerized
power controlling centers in six locations, including Gandul and
Cawang in Jakarta, Cigereleng in West Java, Ungaran in Central
Java and Waru in East Java. Most of the controlling centers are
Y2K compliant.

Aritonang added PLN was fixing its billing system to make it
Y2K compliant.

PLN is scheduled to present its preparations for the
millennium bug in a one-day seminar on April 22 at its
headquarters. The seminar is open to members of the public. (jsk)