PLN guarantees power supply during dry season

PLN guarantees power supply during dry season

A'an Suryana The Jakarta Post Jakarta

State-owned electricity company PLN said on Tuesday that electric power produced by its hydro-electric stations dropped by some 60 percent during the current dry season.

PLN president Eddie Widiono, however, tried to ease fears that there would be a disruption in the supply of electricity to the public by saying the company would intensify the operations of its geothermal power plants.

"It is quite annoying that the electricity supply will eventually decrease. But, we will cover for the lack of supply by utilizing geothermal power plants owned by the company," Eddie told reporters on the sidelines of a seminar.

PLN is expected to produce some 20,000 megawatts (MW) of electricity this year, of which more than 10 percent (2,100 megawatts) usually comes from its hydro-electric plants.

According to PLN secretary Muljo Adji AG, the 2,100 MW was produced by five hydro-electric plants located in Central and West Java.

In West Java, the Saguling, Cirata and Jatiluhur plants produce 700 Megawatts, 1,000 Megawatts and 150 Megawatts, respectively.

While in Central Java, the Mrica and Karangkates generating stations produce 180 and 105 MW, respectively.

If the amount of energy in those five plants was reduced by 60 percent, it would bring the total down to 854 MW, essentially leaving a deficit to make up of more than 1,000 MW.

PLN is planning to utilize its geothermal power plants to anticipate the power supply drop from the hydro-electric plants.

But the capacity of the existing geothermal power plants may not be sufficient.

According to data from the Indonesian Geothermal Association (API), as it was revealed by its chairman Herman Darnel Ibrahim in last April, all seven geothermal power plants in the country had a combined power output of only 800 MW.

Theoretically, this means that there would be significant shortage of power during the dry season, which began last month, and will likely hit its peak in September.