All power plants on Java readied to anticipate power shortage

State power firm PLN has readied all power plants of the Java-Bali system to operate at full capacity in anticipation of a drastic drop in power supply due to prolonged drought, a company official said Tuesday.

PLN expects however that rains will fall on Java before October so that area dams could supply enough water to hydro powered generators, said Herman Darnel Ibrahim, PLN?s director in charge of transmission and distribution.

?If rains do fall by October, power supply for the island could drop significantly,? Ibrahim told reporters.

Severe drought has hit Java and many other islands in Indonesia, causing a drastic fall in water supply for dams. Many fear that the situation will remain until after October. Normally, rainy season in Indonesia starts in October and ends in April in the following year.

At least 30 large power plants are in operation on Java, of which 10 use water as their source of energy and are operated by PLN. The 10 projects are located in West Java and Banten (2), Central Java (4) and East Java (4).

PLN?s power plants and those operated by other power producers together have capacity to supply the Java-Bali system around 12,800 megawatts (MW) of electricity, of which some 2,536 MW are supplied by hydro power plants. (godang)