Looking Up Close To The Bengkok Hydropower Plant, A Green Power Plant Built Since The Dutch Colonial Period

Photo: Maria Trisnawati/VOI

The existence of green power plants is currently being taken into account in the midst of the energy transition to net zero emissions (NZE) in 2030. In the midst of the many new green power plants, PLN turns out to have a Bengkok Hydroelectric Power Plant (PLTA) which has been established since 1923.

The hydropower plant, which is located in the Dago area, Bandung City, West Java, was originally established to distribute electricity to communication facilities owned by the Dutch East Indies via Radio Malabar and is still in use today.

Senior Manager of PLN IP of the Saguling Generation Business Unit (UBP), Doni Bakar, said that this power source was obtained from the results of stemming the Cikapundung River located in the Grand Forest Park, about 4 km from the plant site.

"Here the capacity is 3 x 1.05 MW, a total of 3.15 MW," said Doni when met in the Bengkok hydropower plant area, Bandung, Tuesday, September 3.

Coming from the Cikapundung River, the water is accommodated in a daily stretcher pond (KTH) before flowing into the pipe before heading to the three main turbines with a capacity of 1.05 MW. The water discharge used is 1 cubic meter per second which will produce 1 MW

With a capacity of 3.15 MW, Doni ensured that this plant was able to illuminate 2,000 to 3,000 houses around the Bandung City area.

"In our capacity of 3 MW, it's around 3,000 kW. So if one house is 1 kW, it means there are around 2 to 3,000 houses. Around Bandung here, because if there are many PLN serving customers, some use interconnections," he explained.

Regarding the maintenance of the generating unit, Bakar ensured that his party carried out periodic maintenance or time-based using preventive maintenance, by conducting routine inspections every day.

"We use the latest technology through predictive maintenance, we can use thermography. So we take photos, from the visible photo, which spots are hot, which ones are still safe, we process and we carry out maintenance," he concluded.