Paiton V halts operation, adding problem to power supply shortage
Tuesday, May 23 2006 - 02:24 AM WIB
Spokesman for state owned electricity company PLN, Murtaqi Syamsuddin, said in Jakarta on Monday that the fifth unit of the coal fired Paiton power plant stopped its operation early on the day due to a technical problem in its coal cracking system.
"The stoppage of the fifth unit of the Paiton power plant has further added the power supply shortage for the Java and Bali power transmission system to 1,200 MW," he said. "We have tried to add power production from other power units in order to cope with the power supply shortage," he added.
According to him, the sixth unit of the coal-fired Suralaya power plant near Merak, Banten has been operated earlier than its initial schedule in order to reduce the impact from the halt in the operation of the Paiton power plant. "The sixth unit of the Suralaya plant which has been under a regular overhaul should have been operated in the next the three days. But we speed up the start-up process to cope with the power shortage," he said.
Murtaqi said that the newly built combined-cycled Cilegon power plant has been also in operation since Sunday evening to help solve the power shortage. The 740-MW power plant, which is still under a trial operation, has provided additional power supply of about 150 MW to the Java and Bali power transmission system.
PLN reported Monday that two major power plants in North Jakarta, Tanjung Priok and Muara Karang power plants have reduced their power production by up to 750 MW due to a disruption in the gas supply. (*)