Minister/State Secretary Hatta Radjasa said state-owned electricity company PLN was expected to overcome power deficit in 2010 after the government had completed the construction of thermal power plants (PLTUs) with a combined capacity of 10,000 MW.The 10,000-MW power plants project was being implemented in two stages with the first expected to be completed between 2008 and 2009 and the second in 2010.
"We predict that in 2009 there will still be a power deficit. So, the thing that can be done in a short term is to shift work days to power-surplus Saturdays and Sundays," the minister told a press gathering here on Saturday.
Hatta Radjasa who was accompanied by Information Minister Muhammad Nuh said that alternating power cuts now being imposed by the government were not a long-term solution but short-term one pending the completion of power plants now being carried out.
He said that electricity consumption in the last five years grew by 6.7 percent and 4.8 percent during the peak burden while the capacity of power plants only increased by 3.5 percent per annum.
"Due to the imbalance between supply and demand, the reserve margin against the peak burden in 2008 is only about 21 percent," he said.
In the meantime, Information Minister Muhammad Nuh said that the government was taking several steps in order to overcome the shortage of power supplies by accelerating the development of the 10,000 MW PLTUs and shifting weekdays to Saturdays and Sundays.
He said that based on a joint letter of decision by five ministers, the shifting of workdays to Saturdays and Sundays was an effort to reduce 600 MW electricity supplies during the peak burden. This is because from Monday to Friday, there is a deficit of 1,500 MW while from Saturday to Sunday there is a surplus of 1,000 MW.
"If industries are unwilling to shift their weekdays to Saturdays and Sundays, they will be impacted by power cuts on working days," he said.
source: Antara | July 2008
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