Riam Kanan Hydropower Water still critical

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Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan: The rain which flushed South Kalimantan in the past few days have not been able to raise the water level in the Riam Kanan reservoir in Banjar District significantly, Antaranews reported.

Head of Legal and Public Relations Division of PT PLN Region of South Kalimantan and Central Kalimantan, Anang Juhrani in Banjarmasin on Wednesday said PLN was forced to shut down two units at Ir PM Noor hydropower plants due to the discharge of the reservoir is still in critical condition.

Riam Kanan dam water discharge reached only 54.39 meters from normally 56-57 meters, so that PLN can only operate one of three hydropower turbine.

Each turbine when operates will be able to generate 10 megawatts of power, but due to the critical condition on turbine generating less than 10 megawatts.

Anticipating this, PLN has sought to weather modification could bring rain in the area around the reservoir. Through the weather modification technologies high intensity rainfall expected to drop around the reservoir, and the water can flow at the same time filling the dam.

BPPT’s TMC Field Coordinator, Erwin Mulyana, on the sidelines of monitoring the implementation of the TMC in Syamsudin Noor airport with entourage of Jurnalis Pena Hijau Indonesia, recognizes efforts to increase reservoir discharge through TMC has yet to show maximum results.

“Seeding salt (TMC) will continue to do until the next two months,” he said.

Hopefully, these efforts will be able to accelerate efforts to restore the function of the reservoir, which is not only for power generation activities, but also for the fisheries sector and raw water for taps.