PLN to inaugurate new Java transmission line in August

PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN), Indonesia's state power utility, plans to start running a new extra-high-voltage transmission line in Java next month to increase power security in the country's most populous island. The Jakarta Post reported on Saturday.

The new 500-kilovolt transmission line, running through the south of the island, will complement the north transmission line, Herman Darnel Ibrahim, vice president of transmission and distribution at PLN, said.

The north transmission line is currently the only backbone power line running across Java. A second extra-high voltage transmission line would have prevented a 1 to 2-hour blackout in Java and Bali in August last year after a glitch in the north line started a chain of events that shut down two power plants on the island.

"We'll be able to optimize the big coal-fired power plants in East Java" with the south transmission line coming into operation, Ibrahim said by telephone. The north line cannot accommodate all of the electricity generated by these plants, forcing the utility to channel some through 150-kilovolt power lines, which cover smaller areas.

PLN also needs the south transmission line to accommodate 2,660 megawatts of additional capacity this year from two coal-fired plants and one gas-fire station.

The utility had to postpone the scheduled completion of the transmission line several times in the last two years because of land acquisition problems.

Indonesia, which has frequent blackouts, needs to spend about $27 billion on new plants and power lines by 2012 to avoid electricity shortages, according to the World Bank.(*)