Reva Sasistiya

A PLN worker repairs a cable in Bekasi. (Antara Photo)

PLN Short $504m to Fix Jakarta Blackouts

Cash-strapped state electricity company PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara needs to find an additional Rp 4.8 trillion ($504 million) to buy and install six additional transformers to curb chronic power shortages in Greater Jakarta, a company official said on Thursday.

PLN needs Rp 5.6 trillion for the six transformers, but has only Rp 800 billion set aside for major maintenance in Jakarta this year. It has proposed borrowing Rp 3 trillion from the government, and is hoping to secure Rp 1.8 trillion in loans from the World Bank or another international organization, said Nur Pamudji, PLN’s general manager of power supply management in Java and Bali.

The six transformers would increase the capacity of PLN’s ailing power stations in Bekasi, Cawang, Gandul, Balaraja, Kembangan and Muara Tawar. They currently face frequent overloads, resulting in blackouts throughout Greater Jakarta when demand exceeds PLN’s ability to supply electricity.

Pamudji said PLN had recently bought one 500 kilovolt transformer from South Korea’s Hyundai for its station in Gandul, South Jakarta, and another from France’s Areva for the Balaraja and Tangerang areas.

However, installation would not begin until early next year, he said.

“For transformers in Kembangan, West Jakarta, and in Bekasi, we will open the bidding process in the middle of this month,” Pamudji said.

The new transformers in Gandul, Balaraja, Kembangan, and Bekasi are expected to be operational by the end of next year, he said. Installing the two others in Muara Tawar and Cawang would depend on PLN’s ability to secure further loans, he said.

Jacobus Purwono, the director general of electricity and energy utilization at the Energy Ministry, said the government would support PLN’s plan to install extra transformers by next year.

“The approval will be from the Finance Ministry and the coordinating minister for the economy, but the Energy Ministry will support the plan,” he said.

Purnomo Willy, PLN’s general manager for Jakarta and Tangerang, said Jakarta, Bekasi and Tangerang would continue to suffer from four-hour rotating blackouts through the end of this month.

The Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT) recommended on Thursday that PLN closely inspect its four stations in Gandul, Kembangan, Bekasi and Depok to ensure there wouldn’t be another fire.

PLN has struggled to meet Jakarta’s demand for power since a fire at its central facility in Cawang, East Jakarta, in September. Since Monday, large swaths of the city have been without electricity after a power station in Muara Karang, North Jakarta, overloaded.

That failure was caused by a breakdown in one of the transformers in a station in Gandul, Depok.

Currently, the peak power demand in Greater Jakarta is up to 5,200 megawatts, while PLN’s installed capacity is only 4,500 megawatts.

Pamudji said a new transformer had been installed at Cawang and would be fully operational by the end of the month.

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