PLN in the dark

The massive power failure in Java and Bali on Thursday is emblematic of the crumbling infrastructure in Indonesia and the state electricity company (PLN)'s poor peak load management, inadequate maintenance system, and overloaded transmission and distribution lines.

The power failure, the biggest since those of 2002, should clearly have caused huge losses as it switched off lights in offices and commercial premises and shut down factories across Java and Bali, plunging Jakarta into gridlock as traffic signals failed. Confused workers spilled out onto the streets, while thousands of stranded commuters were trapped for hours in crowded train stations.

The state power monopoly said the blackout was caused by a technical fault in the Cilegon-Saguling, West Java, section of its 500-kilovolt Java-Bali overhead transmission line, which triggered the circuit breakers, thereby isolating the Suralaya power plant in West Java and the Paiton plant in East Java. This set off a chain reaction within the high-voltage Java-Bali grid, which within half an hour had blacked out vast swathes of these two islands.

Even while PLN was still investigating the cause of the problem, it tried to cover up for its own inadequacies by reminding consumers that even in the United States, well known for its modern and sophisticated power infrastructure, a similar massive power failure also occurred in 2003. The unprecedented outage that hit the northeastern United States and Canada in mid- August, 2003, was also caused by technical problems involving high-voltage overhead transmission lines.

Of even greater concern, however, is the PLN warning on Thursday that a recurrence of such a massive power failure within the Java-Bali grid cannot be ruled out. This only adds to the worries of electricity consumers. Besides the rotating blackouts that are regularly inflicted on various provinces outside Java, such as in Sumatra, due to a shortage of diesel supplies or inadequate generating capacity, the possibility of sudden blackouts now looms over consumers due to technical problems that could recur anytime in PLN's creaking transmission infrastructure.

Energy analysts and PLN itself had warned as far back as 2000 of looming power-supply disruptions in Java and Bali in view of the rapid increases in demand taking place as the economy began to recover, and the fact that PLN's only high-voltage transmission line along the north coast of Java was straining under the weight of ever-heavier loads.

In May and early December, 2003, many areas of Java and Bali were plunged into total darkness for two consecutive nights due to supply disruptions caused by technical problems at the Paiton plant in East Java and the Suralaya plant in West Java. In view of all this, it is crystal clear that power supply capacity is currently at a critical level.

Many investors, notably those from overseas, such as Japan, have cited an acute power supply shortage as one of the main barriers to new investment in the country.

PLN badly needs a new, alternative transmission grid. However, the construction of the second high-voltage transmission grid on the south coast of Java has long been hampered by land acquisition problems.

The project has been facing strong opposition from local communities in Central and West Java, which want access to all the electricity they can use but do not want to have power transmission lines passing over their homes and farms. And the state electricity monopoly and the government have apparently not been treating the problem of one of the utmost urgency.

As long as PLN and the government are unable to expedite land acquisition to allow the completion of the second transmission grid, our overloaded power system in Java will remain a major disaster waiting to happen.

Further down the line, failure to resolve the land acquisition problems bedeviling the construction of the southern power grid will present an ominous sign to private investors, and quite possibly lead them to shun the infrastructure projects the government has been promoting since early this year.