Director General Of Electricity Asks The Public Not To Worry About The Issue Of Blackouts And Rotating Blackouts Because Of The Coal Crisis

Illustration. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - The Director General of Electricity at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) Rida Mulyana asked the public not to worry about the issue of blackouts due to the coal crisis. Rida guarantees that the supply of coal for 17 PLTUs has improved and targets that by the end of January all PLTUs have met the minimum standard of 20 operating days.

"That way, the threat of power outages and rotating blackouts is no longer a need to worry about," Rida said at a virtual press conference on Performance Exposure in Jakarta, Tuesday, January 18.

Rida added, to ensure the availability of coal for 20 HOPs, PLN and Minerba continue to supervise and escort from the point of coal delivery to transportation to barges. This is done so that when there is a delay in supply for 1 to 2 days, PLN and the Ministry can implement plan B to keep the electricity supply running.

"So that delays in loading do not affect HOP," said Rida.

Rida added that the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources is also targeting that on January 31 there will be several PLTUs that have a coal supply of 30 HOP.

"But the average is above 20 HOP, for IPP Jeneponto it has been 15 HOP, the rest is above 20 HOP," concluded Rida.

The coal supply crisis that occurred at the end of 2021 and early 2022 made 17 PLTUs threatened not to operate optimally and have the potential to disrupt electricity supply for 10 million customers.

Therefore, throughout January 2022, the government has secured 16.2 million tons of coal for power generation needs thanks to the support of coal producers and logistics transportation associations.