5. August 18th, 2005 Java-Bali Blackout – 100 Million People Affected
At 10:23 am local time the transmission line between Cilegon and Saguling in West Java failed. This caused a chain reaction that caused two units of the Paiton plant in East Java and six units in the Suralaya plant in West Java to fail. The state-owned electric company started that the grid failed and numerous points in both Java and Bali, which caused a shortfall of 2,700 MW which is half the amount needed to power the two countries. Power was restored to most areas by 5:00 pm that same day.
Power outages are a significant problem in Java and Bali when large portions of the population rely on the electric trains for transportation. The high cost of gas has caused many people to be unable to afford cars and without the electric trains they ended up stranded. For those who did have power, the roads became a dangerous place without traffic signals and there were major accidents in the capital. Large hospitals were forced to cease surgical operations and the smaller hospitals were forced to turn away patients altogether. 1,800 officers were called in to deal with minor issues brought on by the failure, and they were needed as the use of candles caused six fires in Jakarta alone.
At the time the Java was experiencing a huge economic upswing which was causing larger demands on power, so the country began an energy conservation program. Knowing that the energy infrastructure is in desperate need of improvements to support the continued growth of the country, leaders have begun looking for foreign investment in the energy sector. However, they were limited because privatization of energy was ruled unconstitutional in 2004. Despite this Indonesia sought to add 22,000 MW of power to its current 23,000 MW in order to give the country the ability to grow.