POWER BLACKOUTS IN JAVA, BALI DUE TO TRANSMISSION PROBLEM

Jakarta, March 17 (ANTARA) - State electricity company PT PLN said parts of Java and Bali had experienced power blackouts on Tuesday as a transmission problem had caused a disruption in the operations of the Suralaya thermal power plant (PLTU).

PLN's Java-Bali Operations Director Murtaqi Syamsuddin said here since 11.42 am Western Indonesian Time (WIB) on Tuesday, all generators at the Suralaya power plant which had a capacity of 3,400 MW had stopped operating or dropped out of the Java-Bali interconnection system.

"As a consequence, there are power blackouts in several areas. PLN is now identifying the areas where blackouts are happening. We apologize for this trouble," he said.

Central Jakarta and Depok (West Java) were among the areas where power blackouts occurred.

PLTU Suralaya was now only operating with a 225 MW capacity to meet its own electricity need, he said.

However, in general the condition of the Java-Bali system was still in safe condition, he said.

PLN had shifted the burdens of PLTU Suralaya to other power generators which were in stand-by condition, he said.

"We hope the problem can be overcome soon, so that the blackouts will not last long," he said.