Mrica hydro power plant stops operation due to lack of water supply

Mrica hydropower plant in Banjarnegara, Central Jave have stopped its operation since late last week due to the sharp drop in the water resource in the PB Soedirman dam, causing a further reduction of the electricity supply from the state owned electricity company PLN, Kompas daily reported on Tuesday.

The power plant?s spokesman Hasyim Achmadi said in Purwakarta on Monday that the Mrica power plant was last operated on Saturday at a half of its generating capacity. The power plant was then stopped from operation on Sunday due to a further drop in the water supply, he added.

He said that the hydropower plant was still able to operate for one or two hours with the current water supply. "But we don?t know yet what to do. We are waiting for instruction from PLN?s operating unit in Semarang," he added.

Hasyim said that the temporary suspension of the Mrica hydro power plant would not affect the electricity supply in the surrounding communities, which received power supply directly from PLN?s Java and Bali power transmission grid.

The prolonged drought season has caused a major drop in the water level of the Soedirman dam, which was used not only for the operation of the power plant but also for irrigation of the local farmers. At normal situation, the power plant, which operates three generating units each with 60 MW capacity, needs 222 cubic meters of water supply an hour to run at its full capacity. At present, the water supply is only about 10 to 20 cubic meters per second. (*)