HERE’S HOW PLN MEETS INDUSTRIAL ELECTRICITY NEEDS TO SPECIFIC ECONOMIC AREA (KEK)

JAKARTA – Electricity is an important infrastructure in supporting economic growth, encouraging investment, and industrial distribution, which has a continued impact on job creation and the regional economy.

Stable electricity supply is the key to the growth of modern industry that will spur the improvement of the national economy.

“I see that PLN is more than ready to meet the needs and growth of the industrial world. This is PLN’s achievement, and the government should synchronize the industrial plan with the supply capacity (electricity) that has been prepared by PLN,” said the head of STT-PLN for the 2019-2023 period, Iwa Garniwa Mulyana in a written statement, Jakarta, Tuesday (25/6/2019).

PLN’s readiness to maintain industrial continuity can be seen through their efforts to ensure reliable electricity supply for Special Economic Zones (SEZs), Industrial Estates (KI) and other large customers.

Based on the 2018-2027 Electric Power Supply Business Plan (RUPTL), the total power supplied by PLN for large customers is 22,461 Mega Volt Ampere (MVA). Meanwhile, customers who have been connected until October 2018 are 810 MVA.

In general, Iwa assesses that the readiness of PLN’s infrastructure is also more than adequate to meet the electricity supply needed by modern industries. However, there is a fact that the growth of the industrial world is not as expected, according to him, it is not the responsibility of PLN.

In the RUPTL (Business Plan for the Provision of Electricity) PT PLN (Persero) 2019-2028, the addition of electricity infrastructure planned until 2028 is detailed as a 56,395 MW power plant, a transmission network of 57,293 kilometres of circuits (kms), 124,341 MVA substations, 472,795 kms distribution network, and 33,730 MVA distribution substations.

To achieve this target, PT PLN (Persero) has made various efforts. One of them is realizing the Java-Bali electric power system (SJB), as the largest interconnection system in Indonesia.

“The government continues to focus on building power plants. According to electricity statistical data in 2017, in Java and Bali there are currently 331 power plants that are included in the interconnection system with a generating capacity of around 37,600 MW,” said Public Relations of the Directorate General of Electricity, ESDM, Pandu Satria Jati.

SJB is connected in an interconnection network between one generator to another and one substation to another, so that the distribution of electricity can take place continuously without breaking. If one of the generators is damaged, the distribution of electricity can be diverted to another generating center.

Meanwhile, for the electricity system in the Sumatra region, based on data obtained from the Corporate Communications Division of PT PLN (Persero), it is currently in the interconnection development stage from South Sumatra to Aceh. In early 2019, PLN successfully completed and operated three electricity transmission projects in Sumatra.

Currently, the interconnection from Berastagi in North Sumatra to Kutacane in Aceh is connected by a 150 kilo Volt (kV) electricity transmission network along 110 kms which is supported by 345 towers. To increase the reliability of electricity in Kutacane, PLN has also operated a substation (GI) with a capacity of 30 Mega Volt Ampere (MVA).

In addition, PLN has succeeded in connecting a 150 kV power transmission along 65.8 kms between Seputih Banyak to Menggala, Lampung. The old project, which is 11 years old, was officially operational as of December 29, 2018. This connection makes the transfer of electricity from southern Sumatra to Lampung more reliable.