Partial power blackout hits Batam

A partial power blackout hit several areas in Batam on Tuesday after state owned electricity company PLN decided to halt the operation of its gas fired power plant in Panaran area due to the lack of gas supply, Bisnis Indonesia reported on its Wednesday edition.

PLN said that the partial blackout would be rotated in the Batam area and would last three hours a day for about a week. "We hope the gas supply will be normal again within a week," Chairul Imam Rani, the operational director of the electricity company in the island.

He said that his office would also ask local captive power plant operators, mostly major industrial companies in the region, to supply part of their power to PLN's distribution networks in a bid to cope with the power shortage.

The gas supply to Batam has significantly reduced this week due to the decline in the power supply from the South Sumatra-Batam-Singapore pipeline. The gas supply in this massive line was reduced last week due to a repair in the gas receiving facilities in South Sumatra. (*)