North Sumatra council urges PLN to solve electricity crisis

Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post, Medan

The North Sumatra Legislative Council has told state-owned electricity company PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) to overcome the power crisis throughout the region.

A legislative council member, Fadly Nurzal, said Tuesday that the frequency of blackouts in North Sumatra had reached crisis proportions.

Fadly said the local legislative council had recommended six points to solve the problem, which had been worsening over a period of several years. The recommendation was submitted to both PT PLN and the provincial administration, he said.

One of the six suggestions is for the management of PT PLN to work professionally for the sake of its customers. The legislative council believes that by improving the performance of its management, PT PLN will be able to solve the power crisis problem in the region.

The legislative council is also urging the central government to accelerate the construction of the Asahan III Hydro Electric Power Plant, which is expected to produce 174 megawatts of energy.

Another suggestion requires that the central government not extend the contract between Indonesia and Japan for operating aluminum production company PT Inalum, which uses 650 megawatts of electricity for its operations.

Even though PT Inalum has been helping PT PLN by occasionally supplying up to 45 megawatts of power, this is not enough because the supply is inconsistent.

The contract between Indonesia and Japan for operating PT Inalum will be up in 2013. In this cooperation, Indonesia holds 41.13 percent of total shares, while Japan holds 58.87 percent.

Fadly said that by stopping the contract, Indonesia would be able to send 650 megawatts of electricity to the public.

Fadly said he hoped both the local and central governments would pay serious attention to the energy crisis in North Sumatra. "It is very urgent for the authorities to make immediate decisions about this problem," he added.

According to the North Sumatra legislative council, the power crisis is caused by the limited number of power plants that can supply energy throughout the province.

Based on the data, the total power supply in North Sumatra is 1,130 megawatts, while the peak load reaches 1,190 megawatts. This means the province suffers from 60-megawatt shortfall of energy.

General Manager of PT PLN in North Sumatra Albert Pangaribuan said that he could not prevent blackouts throughout the province because of the energy shortfall. He said that PT PLN also had to temporarily cut electricity supplies each time the company conducted a maintenance check.

"For example, when we are conducting a maintenance check at Belawan Steam Power Plant, we have to cut the energy in some places for several days," Albert said.

Albert said the government should add to the number of power plants in North Sumatra to overcome the problem.

"We can not live like this all the time. We have to find the solution and immediately apply it. That's why we are badly in need of new power plants to meet our needs," he said.

He expressed his gratitude to the North Sumatra Legislative Council Members for their support of PT PLN by pressuring the authorities to accelerate the construction of the Asahan III Power Plant.