PLN may shut down more power plants
Leony Aurora, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
People living in Java and Bali are once again being told that they should reduce power consumption to avoid blackouts, this time due to the fact a number of power plants on these islands may be forced to shut down due to lack of fuel.
Production from the 1,000-megawatt (MW) Tambak Lorok power plant in Semarang might have to be halted within two days, Muljo Adji, general manager of PT PLN's Java-Bali power distribution center, said on Tuesday.
"Fuel will arrive tomorrow to Tambak Lorok," he said. "We may have to shut the plant down if we cannot get the fuel unloaded in time."
State power firm PT PLN announced on Monday that it had to shut the Grati power plant in Pasuruan, East Java, as diesel supplies had run out.
Muljo added, however, that the 750-MW power plant could start full operations again on Wednesday. "We've already unloaded enough fuel to operate five 100-MW generators this evening (Tuesday)," he said.
Both Tambak Lorok and Grati supply electricity to the Java- Bali grid, which requires some 14,500 MW of power during peak times of between 5 p.m. and 11 p.m.
A spokesman for PLN's Jakarta and Tangerang areas, Ario Subijoko, said Jakarta saw a deficit of 190 MW on Tuesday.
Areas that were scheduled for rotating blackouts on Tuesday included Penggilingan and Cipinang in East Jakarta, Petukangan in South Jakarta, Kebun Jeruk in West Jakarta and several areas in Tangerang, he said.
When speaking on Tuesday, Ario said that no schedule had yet been drawn up for Wednesday
State oil and gas firm PT Pertamina announced on Monday that domestic fuel stocks had fallen to 17.5-days supply on average, with domestic consumers as well as industry being affected.
The company's president director, Widya Purnama, told the House of Representatives that Premium gasoline stocks were critical, with only 12.7-days supply left, while there was enough diesel left to last for 14.5 days.
Kerosene stocks remained safe at 25.3 days.
Widya said that Pertamina had started unloading 3.2 million barrels of fuel products and stocks would return to more than 20- days supply on June 24 or June 25.
The Tambak Lorok and Grati power plants need 4,500 kiloliters and 2,500 kiloliters of diesel fuel respectively.
Aside from fuel shortages at these plants, the 100-MW Gili Manuk power plant in Bali only has enough fuel for three more days, said Muljo.
Fuel stocks at Jakarta's Muara Tawar power plant, which has a capacity of 840 MW, were sufficient to last for another week.
Earlier this month, when rotating blackouts threatened Java and Bali as a result of gas supplies to several power plants being interrupted for two weeks, PLN launched a campaign requesting residents to turn off two lights per house, thus save 50 watts of power.
Thanks to the cooperation of the public, there were only minor blackouts at the time, all of which were due to other causes.