By: Reza Ramadan) *
The blackout in early August 2019 made the people affected by the incident anxiously await waiting for the electricity to return to normal. On August 4, a massive power outage hit communities in Greater Jakarta and West Java.
Sripeni Inten Cahyani as President Director (Managing Director) of PT PLD (Persero) said that the recovery process took more than 24 hours. That is due to a disturbance in the transmission in the north circuit on the Java-Bali network system.
During this time, the Java-Bali region was supported by the North and South Network with a power capacity of up to 500 KV. Sripeni explained, the two Ungaran and Pemalang circuits were broken, so that the power to the west area automatically moved to the south.
Sripeni said, that PLN is conducting network maintenance for the southern network. Maintenance is often done by PLN when it is a holiday considering the electricity load is relatively low compared to usual days.
Ian also explained that when one southern lane was in the process of maintenance so there was only 1 lane. When there are two northern circuits loose and entering the south lane, then this can cause a system shake. If left unchecked, other plants that are still operating normally will also be released.
Therefore, systematically, other generators automatically participate in escaping like those in the Tasik – Depok network.
Related to the length of the recovery process, Sripeni explained that the PLTU had been relatively long off, interrupted or not operating, requiring time to re-start the production process. Where the PLTU must start with a cold start, operate when it is cold, and it requires 8 hours of normal time to produce steam that can drive a turbine to produce an electric current.
It also said that in the extra high voltage it certainly passes through a number of areas, when it conducts investigations, sometimes there are things that can cause the network to break up, for example, there are kites that are stuck or there is a network that touches the branches of the tree, which can cause power outages. This happens a lot because the 500 kV network is an open network.
Certainly the cause of electrical disruption that caused blackouts in Jabodetabek and parts of West Java is still at the level of technical problems, not sabotage.
The Ministry of Communication and Information Technology (Kominfo) explained, the circulation of information on social media with the narration that the mass blackouts were caused by sabotage by the PLN.
The hoax’s findings were immediately labeled “Disinformation” as a sign that the information in question was incorrect.
PT PLN’s Executive Vice President CSR, I Made Suprateka, denied the alleged sabotage that caused power cuts in half of the island of Java. He explained that SUTET 500 Kv in Ungaran – Pemalang is adjacent to a tree with a height of more than 9 meters. The tree then triggers a short circuit and fire. As a result, the transmission network is fatally damaged.
So there is no sabotage let alone hackers, power outages that occur, solely because of technical problems.
This is in line with the presentation of the Head of the Public Information Bureau of the National Police Headquarters Brigadier General Dedi Prasetyo. He said the presence of trees that were too tall and exceeded the limit resulted in a power jump.
Meanwhile the police found no wrongdoing or sabotage. Even so the Police will still be waiting for the results of the investigation of the joint police and PLN Bareskrim team.
Sripeni stressed that he had submitted this case to President Jokowi and also had conveyed a number of steps that PLN would take to anticipate the event so that it would not recur. One of them is in the RUPTL as well as in the RKAP regarding adding 500 kV networks in the north and south so that there are reserves so that there are no 4 networks as has happened so far.
Sripeni and her team have also made various maximum efforts and evaluations at PLN Internal so that the incident will not be repeated.
With the power outage, we come to know that it turns out that electricity has become inseparable from life, both for household and business purposes.
) * The writer is a social media activist
