PLN seeking to restart Paiton 9 power plant after jellyfish attack

State owned electricity firm PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) said that until Saturday, it is still seeking to restart its PLTU Paiton 9 coal fired power plant in Probolinggo, East Java which has been forced to stop operation due to massive attack by jellyfish.

PLN?s spokesperson Agung Murdifi said PLN has fielded 90 personnel fix the water cooling system of the power plant which has failed to work due to arrival of massive number of jellyfish.

Jellyfish has continued posing problem to PLTU Paiton 9 and in 2012 PLN erected a nest to keep the jellyfish from entering the power plant. This time, however, the jellyfish came in an unprecedented massive number, something which PLN has failed to anticipate. This happened probably due to the arrival of winter in Australia and the change in weather in East Java.

?Honestly speaking, this is the first time PLTU Paiton 9 saw the arrival of jellyfish in such a massive number and within a very short period of time. We are doing our utmost to clear the intake of the water cooling system off the jellyfish so that the power plant can resume operation. At the same time, we are also installing additional jellyfish net,? Arief Teguh Sutrisno, PLTU Paiton 9?s General Manager, said.

On Thursday, PLN issued a press release announcing blackout in several areas of Jakarta, citing the problem at its power plants in the Paiton power complex as the reason. In the statement, PLN said three power plants was experiencing problem, namely PLTU Paiton 6, PLTU Paiton 8 and PLTU Paiton 9. Due to the problem, power supplies to Jakarta dropped by 60 MW, according to PLN.

Editing by Johannes Simbolon