Millions lose power as Indonesia capital, parts of Java hit by blackout

A man talks with a security officer at a Commuterline station as it is closed due to a major power blackout in Jakarta, Indonesia, August 4, 2019 - Reuters

JAKARTA (Reuters): Indonesia’s state power company PLN estimated on Sunday it would take several hours to restore power to Jakarta after a major blackout, blaming technical issues for cutting power to tens of millions of people in the capital and surrounding Provinces.

The power outage spread across areas that are home to more than 100 million people and appeared to have affected most areas of the capital, prompting the use of generators in some offices, malls and apartments.

“Hopefully for the Jakarta system, if everything goes to plan and the generating system is reliable, smooth supply should return in approximately three hours,” PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) Acting Chief Executive Sripeni Intan Cahyani told a news conference.

Cahyani said electricity customers in the provinces of West Java and Banten should get power back within four to five hours.

She blamed faulty transmission circuits at the Ungaran power plant in Central Java for causing voltage drops that hit power networks in Jakarta as well as West Java and Banten Provinces.

“We will investigate to find the root causes and analyse them in detail. We will appoint an independent party to investigate,” said Cahyani, who only took up her post on Friday.

Another PLN official said two out of three circuits had gone down triggering “cascading voltage” that caused outages as the west system collapsed.