Three provinces on the verge of total blackouts

Syofiardi Bachyul and Puji Santoso, Padang/Pekanbaru

State electricity company PT PLN may be forced to cut off electricity in three provinces in Sumatra in the near future following the decline in the water debit in reservoirs and lakes that have been the source of power for three power plants.

The low water debit was aggravated by a fact that steam- powered power plant Ombilin could not function properly as parts of its equipment were damaged.

Deputy Manager for Communication at PT PLN's West Sumatra office Yusman Radjo Mudo said on Tuesday that the company had to shut down electricity in turn in the three provinces to prevent a total black out. The three provinces in question are West Sumatra, Riau and Jambi.

"We have shut down electricity for six hours at a time in turn in the three provinces starting a few days ago. If we turn on the electricity in the three provinces for the whole time, we are afraid that there will be a total black out," he said. He admitted that he could not predict how long the company would have to do this considering that the dry season would still continue in the provinces for some time yet.

"If we could fix the damage in the Ombilin power plant, we hope that the outages could be reduced to three hours a day in turn in each province," said Yusman.

Yusman said that the water debit in two lakes, Maninjau and Singkarak, and Kotopanjang Reservoir in West Sumatra province, had dropped significantly since the dry season hit the area a few weeks ago.

Yusman added that the water debit could drop much more in the near future, therefore, local residents had to be better prepared for the worst. The water level of Singkarak Lake, for example, is merely 361.49 meters above sea level, while in fact, the turbine in Singkarak power plant could not function if the water elevation is 360.80 meters or less above sea level, he said. Likewise in Maninjau Lake, the water level in the lake is now 463.02 meters, while the minimum threshold needed is 463 meters above sea level.

In Kotopanjang Reservoir, the minimum threshold required is 705 meters above sea level, whereas the water level is currently only 708.4 meters above sea level.

Yusman expressed concern that the water levels would continue to drop as no rainfall is expected in the near future. "What we can do is to maintain the water level by not releasing water from the reservoir or the lakes to local paddy fields for farming, for example," he said.

The power outages have cost the public dearly in Pekanbaru city, Riau province, for example. Here, power was shut down for 24 hours from Monday afternoon to Tuesday afternoon, not for six hours as cited by Yusman. It has annoyed local residents as the outages have greatly affected their daily activities.

"The power shutdown may come to an end within two weeks," said Delvis Bustami, spokesman for PT PLN's Riau province.

He said that in the near future, PT PLN would conduct cloud seeding in the Kotopanjang Reservoir to raise the water debit, and in the meantime, he called on residents to be patient.

But, still, local resident could not accept the explanation.

Nelvida, an owner of a telephone and Internet kiosk, in Pekanbaru city said that she was disappointed with PLN.

"The company is arrogant. It cuts off the power all the time, and it has damaged my computers and electronic equipment," said Nelvida.

Journalist Orin Basuki with Jakarta-based Kompas daily in Pekanbaru also complained that his work was disrupted. "It is difficult to send a story through e-mail to Kompas editorial office as the power is often down," he said.