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SBY Inaugurates ‘Blackout-Free’ Era
Jakarta Globe & Antara | July 28, 2010

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Indonesia. Indonesia has entered a rolling-blackout-free era. At least that’s according to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who arrived in Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara, on Tuesday to officially launch the government’s new electricity program.

The “Indonesia Free From Rolling Blackouts” launch was attended by, among others, Energy Minister Darwin Zahedy Saleh and Coordinating Minister for the Economy Hatta Rajasa.

The official launch came two days after Dahlan Iskan, president director of state utility PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara, said the country now had sufficient power supplies to end scheduled blackouts, which he vowed to do effective immediately after vocal protests from industries that a rate hike passed in June had burdened them with increases far greater than that promised.

Dahlan’s pronouncement was greeted with skepticism, however, by industry analysts who said the complexity of the problems facing PLN might cause Dahlan to regret making his vow.

Speaking in Lombok, Yudhoyono said 19 million households across the country still had no access to electricity, and emphasized the need for concrete efforts in the sector.

He said PLN’s next target should be to assure that anyone who wanted electricity would be able to access it.

“The government continues to strive in electricity so that the poor will be able to enjoy it,” he said. “Everyone knows it is our homework. Access to electricity is also connected with justice. It is unfair if some people still do not have access to electricity.”

He added that the central and regional governments were both actively working on the problem.

Meanwhile, Darwin said the government was now buying power from private companies, using leased generators and shortening maintenance times to help PLN meet the goal of preventing scheduled blackouts.

“If outages are still occurring, it must be because of local problems,” he insisted.

He added the government intended to accelerate the first phase of the 10,000 megawatt “fast-track” electricity generating program, with a focus on building new coal-fired plants, that was scheduled for completion in 2012.

The second phase, which will shift away from coal, is intended to add a further 10,000 MW of capacity by 2014.