MPR pushes faster power infrastructure upgrades after Sumatra outage
The Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry says national reserve electricity capacity remains limited, while Sumatra SUTET work is a key bottleneck.
Deputy Speaker of the MPR Lestari Moerdijat urged faster upgrades to power infrastructure so national electricity supply is more reliable, stable and evenly distributed to remote areas. In an online discussion in Jakarta on Wednesday, she said reliable power is important for economic stability and national resilience, especially because Indonesia’s main electricity loads and renewable energy sources are often not in the same locations. Senior Electricity Inspector Yunan Nasikhin of the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry said the government is adding national power capacity along with supporting infrastructure. In Sumatra, construction of extra-high-voltage overhead transmission lines, or SUTET, is under way to raise generation capacity, but transmission and distribution routes remain weak points. He said the recent blackout in Sumatra has been used as an evaluation point to speed network repairs.