North Sumatra Will Get An Additional 674.4 Mw This Year

Medan  ( Berita ) :  North Sumatra this year will have an additional power supply of 674. 4 megawatts (MW) which would reduce the frequency of alternate power cuts in the province.

“The 674. 4 MW comes from repaired power plants, new energy purchases, while further supplies will also come from a number of power plants to be built starting by the end of this year,”  General Manager of state power utility PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) overseeing northern parts of Sumatra (Sumbagut) M.Pasaribu said in Medan on Sunday.

 Work on the construction of the 21.6 MW gas-fuelled power plant (PLTG) Paya Pasir was started in January 2008, repairs of ST 20 and diesel power plant PLTD MFO Belawan are still underway, in addition to energy purchases from PLTD MFO Belawan in August, and the construction of coal-fired power plant PLTU Labuhan Angin, unit 1 and unit 2 with a capacity of 115 MW each.

 “The additional 674.4 MW will bring the total capacity of the power grid to 1,764.4 MW from the 1,090 MW during peak hours. The capacity has now exceeded the capacity during peak hours in the region which may reach 1,250 MW,” Pasarbu said.

 The availability of a higher capacity than that during peak hours, it is expected that there would no longer be any alternate power cuts starting early in 2009.

 Chairman of the Indonesian  Businesses Association (Apindo), North Sumatra chapter, Parlindungan Purba, said he was so happy when learning that PLN would stop imposing alternative power cuts in the province as of the end of this year.

 However, he said that PLN needs to re-evaluate the energy needs in the coming years as the state electricity company is now no longer fully relying on the electricity produced by its own power plants since the power crisis hit the province.

 A number of industries, like the rubber and crude palm oil industries, for instance, have started using their own power generators.

“We are trying to prevent, while building more power plants in the coming years, especially with overseas funding, a waste caused by overproduction of electricity,” he said. ( ant )