Singkarak power tower collapsed, blackouts for West Sumatra, Riau and Aceh
Tuesday, November 28 2000 - 03:30 AM WIB
State electricity company PT PLN is conducting alternate electricity blackouts for some areas in West Sumatra, Riau and Aceh due to electricity supplies disruption for the three provinces resulted from flooding and landslides that have bring down a double circuit 150 kilovolt tower in Singkarak power plant.
Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Purnomo Yusgiantoro said that he had instructed PLN to rebuild the tower and all other installations destroyed by the flooding and landslides in West Sumatra and Aceh, two Sumatra provinces most severely affected by the flooding.
"I have instructed PLN to rebuild the destroyed installations and also state oil and gas firm Pertamina to continue supplying fuels to affected areas," Purnomo said in his office on Monday. He was accompanied by PLN operation director Tunggono and Pertamina's domestic storage and marketing director Harry Purnomo.
Tunggono added that the flooding in Aceh had caused Cot-Trueng diesel-powered plant inundated and this caused blackouts for Banda Aceh, the capital of Aceh. Currently, only one electricity generator, out of four existing generators in Aceh, was still working.
He added that Bireun, Sigli, and Lhokseumawe also suffered blackouts because of electricity network destruction, while other towns such as Meulaboh and Langsa did not suffer from electricity blackouts.
Tunggono said the most severe destruction suffered by PLN was the collapse of the double circuit tower in Singkarak power plant, as the tower was swept away by the flood and drifted on the Singkarak river. Consequently, electricity supplies to West Sumatra and Riau was disrupted.
The collapse of Singkarak tower forced PLN to conduct alternate blackouts for areas in West Sumatra and Riau. To reduce the blackouts, PLN had got permission from cement producer in Pandang, Semen Padang, to reduce electricity supply to the company by 25 percent. PLN had also asked permission from the government and other related parties to activate all the four generation units of Maninjau power plant, and increase power supplies from Ombilin power plant.
Because of the natural disaster in Sumatra, Tunggono said, PLN suffered an estimated loss of Rp 900 million to Rp 1 billion per day, while the collapse of the Singkarak tower caused a loss of Rp 5 billion to PLN. (*)