Mukumuko Regency suffers blackouts despite excess power capacity

State-owned electricity firm PT PLN said that the Mukomuko Regency in Bengkulu Province currently enjoys excess power capacity.  But the region continues to suffer from frequent blackouts primarily due to disturbance to the power lines.

State news agency Antara quoted Lukmi Agustiansyah, a manager at PLN Mukomuko regional office as saying Monday that there are three diesel-fired power plants with combined capacity of 16 MW operating in the regency.  “Even during peak load, there’s still excess power capacity,” he said.

Lukmi, however, said that despite the excess power capacity, the Mukomuko regency continues to suffer from frequent blackouts primarily due to disturbances to the power lines caused among others by falling trees.

He added that trees grown by local villagers have also often disturbed power line cables. 

He said that as PLN has been facing difficulties in persuading villagers to cut down the trees, the utility is developing alternative power lines to help cope with the frequent blackout problem in the regency. (*)