PLN Conducts Sumatra-Bangka Submarine Cable Trial Operation

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - State-owned electricity provider PT PLN (Persero) has been conducting a trial operation of a submarine cable connecting the Sumatra and Bangka islands since March 26, 2022, and has not recorded any significant problems so far.

"We hope that the operation of this improved interconnection system can facilitate investment activities and help increase the electricity supply to Bangka Island to reach 200 megawatts (MW)," General Manager of PLN's Parent Unit in Bangka Belitung Islands (Babel) Province Amris Adnan said on Tuesday.

In addition, he said he expected the new system to help the community to carry out their Ramadan and Eid Al-Fitr prayers in a calm and solemn atmosphere.

“People do not need to worry since they have been supported by increasingly reliable electricity conditions with sufficient power reserves,” he remarked.

In the initial stage, the Sumatra-Bangka interconnection system is supplying 150 kilovolts (kV) of electricity, which is expected to reduce the utilization of oil fuel-fired power plants on Bangka Island.

Director of megaprojects and new and renewable energy at PT PLN, Wiluyo Kusdwiharto, said that all stages of the electricity infrastructure operation have been carried out successfully.

The operation of the submarine electricity cable is also expected to meet the growth in electricity consumption and improve the quality of the enterprise’s services in the future.

Bangka Island is one of the regions with a high growth rate of electricity in Indonesia. The average electricity sales growth in the region in the last three years has been recorded at 8.52 percent.

The increase has been the result of the development of fishing, palm oil processing, quartz sand, tin ore smelting, as well as tourism industries.

Earlier, electricity to Bangka Island was supplied by a number of power plants, which were dominated by oil fuel-fired power plants, with a peak load of 190.2 MW.

At the time, the total power reserve of the region was only 1.3 MW.

Thanks to the new interconnection, currently, the power reserve on Bangka Island has increased to 281 MW.

Read: Telkomsel Reroutes Traffic as Submarine Cable Disrupted

ANTARA