blackouts

Ghana: Load Shedding Underway

The uncontrollable power outages and the resultant load shedding exercise that hit the country a couple of years ago have started again. City & Business Guide investigations revealed that the power cuts started about two months ago, affecting all parts of the country.

The Ghana Grid Company Limited (GRIDCO) and the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) have on several occasions, dispelled suspicions of power rationing lately, explaining that the recent power outages were due to some technical hitches at the various ECG and GRIDCO sub-stations.

Indonesia: Fauzi to ask offices to switch off

The Jakarta governor will issue instructions to city offices to cut down on their power consumption amid the current shortage that has left Jakarta with a program of rotating blackouts for the past two months.

Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo will issue a circular instructing all buildings to reduce power use, economic affairs secretary Mara Oloan Siregar said after a meeting with PLN on Tuesday.

The move was intended to set an example for other businesses around Jakarta, Mara said.
“We’re calling on [everyone] to reduce their electricity use so the rotating blackouts can be minimized,” he said.

State electricity provider PT PLN introduced the rotating schedule of blackouts affecting different areas of Jakarta at different times after two of the company’s facilities in Cawang, East Jakarta, and Kembangan, West Jakarta, malfunctioned and were razed by fires.

Indonesia: Chaotic Traffic and Blackouts Equal to High Cost

The regulated blackouts threaten the survival of small industries. The traffic flow in Jakarta is also chaotic due to non-functioning traffic lights. Lately, 9 to 15 traffic lights are off almost everyday.

"Since Sunday, traffic lights in Jakarta take turns to stop functioning. In every area, at least one to five traffic lights aren't functioning. The cause of this is the regulated blackout, but some are out of order," said Second Police Inspector Adjutant Aritonang, the traffic surveillance camera officer (for closed circuit television/CCTV) of the Jakarta Regional Police Traffic Directorate (Ditlantas), Tuesday.

Global: Oil : future world shortages are being drastically underplayed, say experts

A leading academic institute has urged European governments to review global oil supplies for themselves because of the "politicisation" of the International Energy Agency's figures.

Uppsala University in Sweden today published a scathing assessment of the IEA's annual World Energy Outlook, saying some assumptions drastically underplayed the scale of future oil shortages.

Cuba: Cuba orders extreme measures to cut energy use

Cuba has ordered all state enterprises to adopt "extreme measures" to cut energy usage through the end of the year in hopes of avoiding the dreaded blackouts that plagued the country following the 1991 collapse of its then-top ally, the Soviet Union.

In documents seen by Reuters, government officials have been warned that the island is facing a "critical" energy shortage that requires the closing of non-essential factories and workshops and the shutting down of air conditioners and refrigerators not needed to preserve food and medicine.

Indonesia: PLN officials told to address power outages or lose jobs

State SOE Minister Mustafa Abubakar has asked officials of state electricity company PT PLN to immediately address the ongoing power shortage in the country, especially in Jakarta, or risk losing their jobs.

“I will discipline those who fail to meet the electricity crisis settlement deadline. I will also reward those who meet the deadline,” Mustafa said during a visit to the Cawang Baru substation in East Jakarta on Thursday.

Indonesia: Monopoly rears its ugly head

The state electricity monopoly (PLN) raised again its ugly head with more extensive damages as rotating power blackouts, previously limited mostly to areas outside Java, have now hit even the capital city, the center of political and commercial power.

PLN chief executive officer Fahmi Mochtar said Monday the rolling power outages in Jakarta and its surrounding towns, initially caused by the explosion of a transformer at the high-voltage transmission grid in Cawang in September, would continue until Christmas due to the technical problems at the Muara Karang power generation plant in north Jakarta.

Malawi: Malawi: Fuel shortage deepens

The country has for the past four weeks gone with empty tanks at fuel service centres, forcing vehicles to wait for hours on end in a quest to get fuel.

Officials from Petroleum Importers Limited and the Malawi Energy Regulatory Authority say they are doing all they can to pressurize officials at Beira Port to deliver.
Tankers of fuel remain stuck at Beira with loads of fuel while people adapt to living in the dark.

Nepal: Fuel shortage hits consumers

Shortage of petroleum products has hit consumers in the Valley as Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) failed to manage supplies amid dwindling import, which resulted from stringent depot safety policy of the Indian supplier and traffic jam along Birgunj-Raxaul corridor, the main import route.

Petroleum dealers said the NOC did not issue petrol to private dealers on Tuesday. On Wednesday, it distributed 225 kiloliters of fuel, which is three-fourth of normal daily demand, in the Valley.

"Almost all dealers in the valley were out of stock earlier on the day. Fuel was distributed only late on the day, building queues at the refilling stations," said Sharad Bhandari of Nepal Petroleum Dealers´ Association, flaying the NOC for not managing the import-related problem on time.