PT Indonesia Asahan Aluminium (Inalum), the aluminium producer announced that it had supplied 105 MW of electricity in North Sumatra in order to resolve the province’s recurring power outages.
Sahala Sijabat, the president director of Inalum said the supply of electric power was a free contribution to resolve the region’s power crisis. He also added that Inalum had been supplying electricity to this province since Nov 28.
“This is a form of our commitment to help overcome the power crisis in North Sumatra,” Sahala told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.
He said Inalum had additionally supplied 1.5 MW to state power company PLN in Porsea, Humbang Hasundutan regency.
“That’s the best we could do to help. This is probably due to the good condition of our eight power generators and the high water level in Lake Toba,” said Sahala.
Sahala said Inalum planned to construct a new steam power plant (600 MW) for supporting its increased production target to 650,000 tons from 260,000 tons of aluminum annually.
“The power plant is still being planned. It’s feasibility study is expected to be completed this year,” said Sahala.
Due to shortage of electricity in the province, Inalum has imposed the rolling blackouts all across the province. Improvements were noticed in January but since the malfunctioning of generators in Labuhan Angin in North Tapanuli and Belawan Seaport residents have started facing blackouts.
The provincial administration of North Sumatra and PLN have agreed on several short as well as long term solutions to resolve the power shortage. The short term solutions include repairing a number of power plants.
“To realize the additional supply, we will request assistance from the government and the House of Representatives,” Adnyana , the operations director of Sumatra operations said, adding that PLN would also speed up maintenance and repairs of the 180-MW gas-fired power plant in Belawan. He said the plant was expected to resume normal operations by March 10.
