Java Blackout; Jokowi Questions PLN's Backup Plan

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - President Joko Widodo or Jokowi questioned PLN's backup plan, which he said did not work well during Sunday's blackout in West and Central Java. 

"A company with such huge management surely has a contingency plan; a backup plan. My question is, why did it not work fast and well?" Jokowi said when visiting the state power company's head office in South Jakarta, Monday, August 5.  

Jokowi asked PLN's acting director Sripeni Inten Cahyani to give him a brief explanation about the massive blackout. Jokowi said a similar thing happened in Java and Bali in 2002, and that should have been a lesson learned.  

"We know that this will not only tarnish PLN's reputation, but it was also a disservice to customers. It also put public transportation in danger—the MRT for example," the president said. 

Sripeni apologized for the blackout and said that it was caused by disturbances to the company's 500-kV Extra High Voltage Air Duct (SUTET) in Ungaran-Pemalang. The disturbances caused failure in transmitting ebergy from the east to the west, which was followed by trips in all power plans in the central and west of Java. 

"What we did was maximizing repairs for the transmission process. We admit that it was slow, and we apologize," Sripeni said.

TEMPO.CO