Sumatra Blackout Serves as Alarm for National Electricity System Vulnerability

The mass blackout event that recently hit most of Sumatra has become a loud alarm for national energy security. The disruption, which paralysed activity in around 10 provinces and affected nearly 13 million households, is considered not just an ordinary technical constraint, but a signal of deep systemic vulnerability.

Director of the Institute for Climate Policy & Global Politics, Eko Sulistyo, asserted that this incident is a symptom of fundamental problems within Indonesia’s electricity infrastructure. He conveyed this during the Denpasar 12 Discussion Forum entitled ‘Building Indonesia’s Electrical Energy Infrastructure System and Renewal Towards 2045’, held online on Wednesday (10/6).

Eko highlighted Sumatra’s strategic position as a pillar of the national economy. With a contribution of 23 per cent to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the electricity disruption in this region is certain to disrupt the supply chains of major commodities such as palm oil and coal.

‘This regional disruption also disrupts the national supply chain, and even the global supply chain subsequently. This is what I think is important for mitigation and future preparation,’ said Eko. He also regretted the absence of a comprehensive calculation regarding the value of lost load or the real economic losses due to the loss of electricity supply.

Beyond physical infrastructure issues, Eko issued a serious warning about the financial risk looming over the energy sector, namely the weakening of the rupiah. The energy sector’s dependence on imported components and US dollar-based funding creates a phenomenon he termed the dollar energy threat.

According to him, exchange rate pressures can test national energy resilience. Without concrete mitigation measures against rupiah fluctuations, Indonesia risks being trapped in an energy crisis triggered by foreign exchange pressures, as previously experienced by several other countries, leading to political instability.

‘When external and internal pressures then meet, we are trapped in what I call the dollar energy threat. Dependence on energy causes our dollar needs to increase,’ he concluded.

While appreciating the efforts of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources and PT PLN (Persero) in strengthening the network and increasing generation capacity, Eko urged the government to immediately formulate a strategy for mitigating exchange rate risk and more transparent stress tests to maintain national energy sovereignty towards 2045.