Power fully restored in Bali after subsea cable glitch caused blackout

INDONESIA: Electricity on Indonesia’s resort island of Bali has been fully restored after an hours-long blackout that started on Friday, a state utility announced in a statement, according to VnExpress.

Early signs pointed to a breakdown in subsea cables as the reason for the outage, according to Darmawan Prasodjo, president and director of the state energy company Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN).

It is known that Java and Bali get their power via cables connected under the sea. PLN informed everyone that some parts of Bali suffered from a power outage that began at 4 p.m. last Friday.

Electricity restored in 2.5 hours

Electricity was restored to most of the island in about two and a half hours, as reported by The Bali Sun. However, the incident left locals and tourists unsettled. This is a reminder for tourists to plan ahead before their vacation.

Chaos also broke out on Bali’s roads as traffic lights and traffic control systems failed, forcing drivers to negotiate intersections on their own. Police were deployed across key areas within minutes to help direct traffic, although some accidents were reported.

Most important places like hospitals, hotels, big stores, and even the airport have their own generators. But as Friday evening was winding down and the sun started to set, you could hear the loud hum of all the backup power things kicking in all over the place. And once it got dark, with no streetlights on, just trying to drive or even walk around became super risky.

Over half of Bali Province had its power restored by PLN in less than two and a half hours, but the most populated parts of the island, such as Denpasar and the beach resort of Nusa Dua, remained dark far into the evening.

Some flights not affected

The media was told by the person in charge, Ahmad Syaugi Shahab, that the electricity from the power company was restored at 5:12 p.m. local time.

He also said they were slowly returning to normal and that all the airport facilities were up and running again.

Bali is a popular tourist destination in Indonesia. Apparently, around 6.3 million people from other countries visited last year, according to local statistics.

DestinAsian magazine just named it the most beautiful island in all of Asia in their yearly Reader’s Choice Awards. Back in October, the folks who read Condé Nast Traveller magazine also gave Bali the same title in their own awards.