PLN shuts down Tarahan 3 plant in Lampung for repair

Stat-owned electricity firm PT PLN will have to apply rotational blackout in Lampung for a week amid power deficit following trouble at the 100 MW Tarahan 3 coal-fired power plant in the province, Kompas reported on Saturday.

The paper quoted PLN Lampung Head of Public Relations, Ketut Darpa as saying that the safety valve at a boiler of the power plant went into trouble on Thursday due to age factor. The power plant was scheduled to undergo repair in October, but the problem occurred earlier.

He said that the repair work is expected to be completed in about a week. PLN will reactivate two diesel power generators, each with capacity of 30 MW, to help minimize power deficit in the province, which has supply capacity of 886 MW, and peak load of 850-878 MW.

Nevertheless, the province is expected to suffer power deficit of 32.19 MW during the repair work, forcing PLN to implement rotational blackout. (*)