PLN: All villages in Bangka Belitung now have access to electricity
Thursday, January 5 2017 - 06:23 AM WIB
All villages in Bangka Belitung Islands Province now have access to electricity, after the Sumedang Village obtained electricity access at the end of last year, state-owned electricity firm PT PLN said in a statement on Thursday.
Rustamadji, General Manager of PLN for Bangka Belitung region, said in the statement the entire 381 villages in Bangka Belitung Islands Province now have access to electricity, making it as the first province in Sumatra to have successfully provided electricity for the entire villages.
The Sumedang Island is a village located in Membalong District, Belitung Regency, populated by 150 households who are mostly fishermen. PLN has set up a 150 kW diesel-fired power generation in the village to provide electricity.
The statement said that PLN has so far developed 17.05 kms of medium voltage power network in Bangka Belitung, 48.74 kms of low voltage network and 0.6 MVA of substation.
In 2016, PLN developed electricity infrastructures in five small islands in Bangka Belitung including Celagen Island, Pongok, Buku Limau, Nangka, and Sumedang Island.
Power generators in the small islands only supply electricity between six p.m. and 6 a.m, PLN said.
In 2017, PLN said it plans to expand power capacity by 22 MW to allow 24-hour power supply in the small islands in Bangka Belitung. The company also aims to provide electricity for the entire hamlets in the villages this year.
Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak