TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search results
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search resultsSumatra blackout raises alarm for Indonesia’s data center push
Future projects may gradually flow to markets perceived as lower-risk in power uncertainty, such as Malaysia or Thailand, unless reliability improvements are quickly made, experts noted.
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
A store in Padangsidimpuan city, North Sumatra, still has electricity supply from a generator set while others are blanketed in darkness after the Sumatra blackout on May 22, 2026. (kompas.com/Oryza Pasaribu)
T
he recent total blackout across Sumatra has triggered serious concerns for the data center sector, with industry players calling it a critical “alarm” for investment as the business entirely depends on power reliability.
Hendra Suryakusuma, chairman of the Indonesian Data Center Provider Organization (IDPRO), warned that prolonged or repeated blackouts significantly increase risks, especially for facilities without best-practice electrical design and continuity procedures.
He acknowledged that electricity infrastructure remains one of the most decisive factors for data center investment.
“Investors are not just looking at location and incentives, but also grid reliability, supply certainty, voltage quality, connection timelines and transparency of recovery when disruptions take place,” Hendra told The Jakarta Post on Monday.
He stressed that investor confidence must be rebuilt, demanding concrete steps from state electricity company PLN, including a transparent post-incident audit, publication of the root cause and corrective actions, transmission reinforcement, priority supply for digital zones, as well as specialized service level agreements (SLAs) for critical loads and acceleration of new substation and transmission line construction.
However, he noted that a properly designed facility should have weathered such a power outage without immediate failure.
“The Sumatra blackout is an important alarm, but it does not automatically mean data centers there experienced downtime,” Hendra said.
