Originally posted by the Voice of America.
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Massive Jakarta Blackout Triggers Demand for Alternative Power Sources

Stanley Widianto

   JAKARTA, INDONESIA - Indonesia's massive August 4 power outage is
   raising new concerns about the state electricity company, and renewing
   calls to look at alternative power sources, including geothermal
   energy, solar photovoltaic and wind.

   The blackout that hit the state-owned PLN electric company was
   Indonesia's worst since 2005, affecting millions of people in Jakarta
   and surrounding areas such as West Java and Banten.

   "By diversifying our energy sources by adding renewables, we may have a
   backup plan reducing the potential of a total blackout," Mamit
   Setiawan, an analyst with Energy Watch, told VOA.

   Setiawan added that the centralized nature of power plants on the
   country's most populated island of Java increases the likelihood of
   cascading outages similar to Sunday's incident.

   The eight-hour blackout began when lines carrying high voltage failed.
   The disruption caused other parts of the system to crash, which in
   turn, caused a domino-like series of further problems affecting power
   plants in the central and western part of Java, including one that
   covered the capital.

   The blackout hindered many important services, like traffic lights,
   subways, cell phones and ATMs.

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