Massive blackout affects tens of millions across Indonesia
Image by Pixabay. Sketched by the Pan Pacific Agency.
JAKARTA, Aug 4, 2019, SMH. A massive power failure has hit the Indonesian capital of Jakarta and surrounding cities, potentially affecting more than 30 million people, reported The Sydney Morning Herald.
State electricity company PLN said the outage began at 11.50am local time (2.50pm AEST) when Gas Turbine seven at its Suralaya plant shut down.
Gas turbines 1-6 were then tripped and shut down too.
The company’s gas turbine plant at Cilegon then shut down too.
The blackout, according to early reports, could last at least six hours, but it was not clear if this information had come from the electricity company itself.
Jakarta’s train system and its underground metro, the MRT, has also stopped working.
The outage has affected the entire Greater Jakarta region – known as Jabodetabek, which is a portmanteau of Jakarta, Bogor, Depok, Tangerang and Bekasi – and which is home to about 30 million people.
It also extends to parts of the neighbouring provinces of West Java and Central Java.
West Java and Central Java are home to millions of more people.
Major phone networks including Telkomsel, XL and Indosat are also only working intermittently.
Traffic lights have also reportedly stopped work in at least some parts of Jakarta.
I Made Suprateka, the Executive Vice President Corporate Communication for PLN, said the company “apologises profusely for the blackout that has occurred, right now we are continuing to normalize [the situation]”.
“We promise to make and exert every effort to improve the system so that electricity returns to normal,” I Made said.
The disruption of a 500 kV transmission line in West Java has made the situation worse, he said.
Other than Jakarta, the full list of cities and regions affected by the outage includes Bandung, Bekasi, Cianjur, Cimahi, Cirebon, Garut, Karawang, Purwakarta, Majalaya, Sumedang, Tasikmalaya, Depok, Gunung Putri, Sukabumi and Bogor.
It is not clear if a magnitude 6.9 earthquake on Friday night off the coast of Java, which killed five people, had had any role in disrupting electricity supply.
Share it
| 
| 
| 
| 
|