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)