Power Cut Imposed To Avoid Longer Power Outage

Jakarta, April 2 (Antara) - State-owned Enterprise Minister Dahlan Iskan said that electricity company PLN had imposed a rotating power cut in a number of locations in Jakarta to avoid longer power outage due to damage to electricity facilities. "The power cut off on Monday (April 1) in Jakarta was a alternative action taken to minimize impact of damage to a PLN power tower. PLN was forced to impose a rotational cut off to avoid further damage and longer outage," the minister said here on Tuesday. He said actually he could not comment on the step of the state-owned power company PLN to impose a power cut because it was the company`s corporate right to do so. "The step taken was an alternative choice. If the tower was not repaired and collapsed, it would cause power outage for a longer time, it could be one to two months. If repaired soon, power cut could last only one to two days," the minister said. He said that of course PLN should make efforts to produce electricity from other plants while repairing its damaged power tower. Earlier, PLN has announced that it will impose rotational power cuts in Jakarta and its vicinity from April 1 to April 5, 2013 due to damage to the power tower of its extra-high voltage transmission system (Sutet). The Sutet system supplies electricity from Mandirancan (Cirebon) of Bandung Selatan in West Java. As a result, the transfer of electricity from plants in Java`s eastern region to the western region (Jakarta and West Java) was reduced by 750 MW. Although it has announced the power cut will take place from April 1 to April 5, the PLN has assured the rotational power cuts will only take place on April 1, 2013. Dahlan said PLN`s tower always faced threats such as theft, movements of its foundation and floods. The main problem faced in repairing towers were costs because for the repair of a one kilo-volt facility would spend some Rp20 billion. While repairing its tower, PLN channeled electricity supply through its power grid from the Indramayu, Lontar Tengerang and Triok PLTU plants. "At present, Jakarta`s need for electricity reached 10,000 MW. About 1,000 MW is supplied from the Muara Tawar and 1,000 MW from Muara Karang plants. The remaining 8,000 WM comes from the Paiton and Suralaya plants," the minister said.