The Lighting of the Lamps

There have been several power blackouts in Jakarta over the past couple of weeks caused apparently by a lack of coal. The ships that carry the coal (that heats the water that drives the turbines and so forth) have not been able to dock due to inclement weather. If they can't dock next week then things could get very black indeed, especially at night. You could well ask why coal hasn't been stockpiled as a buffer against temporary disruptions like this but that would imply some sort of forward planning and there simply isn't too much of that in PLN, the government-run organisation that's responsible for supplying electricity to the country.

Widely regarded as one of the most corrupt institutions in Indonesia, PLN has overseen a steady decay of the country's electricity-generating infrastructure, aggravated by a dearth of foreign investment and its own mismanagement, of which the current coal shortfall is the most recent example. While PLN continues to enjoy its lucrative monopoly, things will only get worse. The organisation has a strategic plan however, that will fix everything: build nuclear power plants across Java, one of the most densely populated and seismically active islands on Earth. It's insane of course but there is a lot of money to be made in the awarding of contracts and very little money to be made in researching renewable energy resources. Bring on Chernobyl.