Java-Bali power grid suffers shortage of supply

State owned electricity company PLN will rotate the power supply in Java and Bali due to technical problems suffered by the Gresik power plant in East Java and Muara Tawar power plant in West Java and the geothermal power plant in Gunung Salak, West Java, Kompas daily reported on Tuesday.

The daily reported that the technical problems which had resulted in the decline in the power supply from the two power plants by 600 MW had caused a shortage of supply in the Java-Bali power grid. During peak hours, the supply shortage reaches about 410 MW because the existing power plants are able only to provide supply of about 12,840 MW while the demand reaches about 13,250 MW.

PLN said that the Gresik power plant suffered a technical problem because the plant had used oil as its fuel instead of gas as it was supposed to. The technical problem has reduced the supply from this power plant by 200 MW.

A similar problem occurred in the Muara Tawar plant, which had seen its power generation capacity to decline by 200 MW. The interruption occurred also due to the change in the fuel from gas to oil.

Besides the two plants, the Gunung Salak geothermal power plant in West Java also suffer a technical problem due to landslide in the area recently. The supply from this power plant declines by 100 MW due to the technical problem.

Basuki Prayitno, the head of PLN?s power distribution for Java and Bali, said that the technical problems in the three power plants were being repaired. "We hope the operation will return to normal in June," he said. (*)