A number of business actors reacted to the shutdown of several units of the Suralaya Steam Power Plant (PLTU) located in Cilegon, Banten by the government. In previous news, BUMN Minister Erick Thohir decided to shut down PLTU Suralaya 1, 2, 3 and 4 with a capacity of 1,600 megawatts (MW). The total capacity of the PLTU owned by PT Indonesia Power reaches 3,400 MW. These efforts are made to reduce air pollution in Jakarta and its surroundings.
PLTU Suralaya itself contributes 50% of Indonesia Power's total production and contributes around 18% of Java-Bali's electrical energy needs. With a transmission of 500 kV, the plant consumes approximately 35,000 tons of coal per day.
General Chair of the Indonesian Fiber and Filament Yarn Producers Association (APSyFI) Redma Gita Wirawasta said that the blackout of some of the Suralaya PLTU units does not appear to have a major impact on the electricity supply to the textile and textile products (TPT) industry. This is because the level of electricity consumption in the TPT industry is declining as the sector's performance is still sluggish.
"The textile industry's electricity use in the second quarter of 2023 has fallen by around 30% compared to the second quarter of last year," he said, Monday (4/9).
Redma also considers that the policy of shutting down some of the Suralaya PLTU units must have been carefully thought out from the supply and demand side by PLN and the government. In fact, the blackout will make PLN's operations more efficient.
He continued, so far the majority of upstream textile industry players usually use gas energy sources because they are related to the production process. Several textile manufacturers have also started implementing renewable energy-based generators for operational needs.
"There are no coal-fired generators built by the producers themselves," he said.