Power Transmission to Improve in August: Indonesia

How I wish I could get a dollar for every blackout I have been in during my travels in Indonesia. They are commonplace and can in many ways be a downright annoyance.

When there is a hiccup on the Java power source then it inevitably hits Bali and big time. You know the story. There you are sitting in an internet café sending emails to worried relatives and suddenly it's as if someone has hit you on the head with a mallet. No, it's not a nightmare scene from Sin City but some silly breakdown in the power line.

One such time occurred the last time I was sat in the Internet Outpost in Poppies Lane 2 in Bali. Trouble was I was posting articles on my website at the time!. Going outside I noticed that only one side of the street had power and the other was shining bright. But, when it all goes out then it is so cool!.

At least the power company is doing something about the whole situation at last. PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara, 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 new 500-kilovolt transmission line running through the south of the island will complement the north transmission line. 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.

Apparently they will be able to optimize the big coal-fired power plants in East Java and with the south transmission line coming into operation everything should be hunky dory. 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.
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.