Rp 13b cloud-seeding project fails to produce rain in West Sumatra

Syofiardi Bachyul Jb, The Jakarta Post/Padang

A cloud-seeding project worth billions of rupiah has failed to produce results, prompting state electricity company PT PLN to abandon it, an official said on Friday.

"The project has been stopped as it has failed to produce rain in three weeks, and has already cost us a lot of money," said Yusman Radjo Mudo, a spokesman for PLN's West Sumatra office.

The Rp 13 billion (US$1.4 million) project started in June. It was initiated by the company as a power crisis continued to plague West Sumatra, Riau and Jambi.

Long power cuts in the provinces were frequent in June and July, after water levels in the provinces' reservoirs, which are used by hydropower stations to generate electricity, dropped in the dry season. Using a rotation system, PLN offices cut power to the provinces for between three and six hours a day; sometimes for between six and 10 hours a day.

To overcome the problem, the electricity company in cooperation with the Agency for the Assessment and the Application of Technology initiated a cloud-seeding project over the Singkarak and Maninjau lakes that feed the Singkarak and Maninjau power stations.

With the failure of the project, the water level of the two lakes has continued to drop, raising fears the electricity crisis would worsen.

However, despite the project's failure, the company had successfully eased the electricity supply problem, Yusman said.

PLN requested help from its South Sumatra office, which through an interconnection system transferred power to the three provinces, amounting to from 100 to 120 Megawatts in daylight hours, he said.

Yusman said the additional power meant there were not massive shutdowns in the three provinces. Now PLN only shut off power in the provinces for two hours each night, between 12 a.m and 2 a.m.

Yusman hoped rain would fall soon over the two lakes so turbines in the stations, which have been idle since June, could start generating power again.

Governments in the three provinces have also begun efforts to overcome the reoccurring electricity problem. On Friday last week, Riau Governor Rusli Zainal met top PLN executives in Jakarta to discuss ways of ending the province's electricity crisis.

During the meeting, PT PLN president director Eddy Widiono told Rusli the company would help the administration find investors to fund the construction of the Teluk Lembu gas power plant, which would boost the province's supply.

PLN also promised to buy electricity from the plant.