Indonesia removed the CEO of state-owned electricity giant Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) after a 16-hour blackout in Batam, a key data center and tourism hub near Singapore. Darmawan Prasodjo, who had led PLN since December 2021, was replaced by Suroso Isnandar, per an exchange filing Wednesday. Suroso retains his role as director of project management and new and renewable energy.
The leadership change is part of a push to improve PLN’s services following the outage, according to controlling shareholder and sovereign wealth fund Danantara. PLN’s Batam subsidiary will be moved directly under Danantara to better support its growth. The blackout began early Monday, affecting over 411,000 customers in Batam, home to about 1.3 million people, disrupting water supplies and telecommunications.
Most services were restored by Tuesday, though PLN Batam imposed rolling blackouts Wednesday as demand outstripped capacity. Batam is a fast-growing, export-oriented manufacturing hub and free-trade zone with several large data center projects and a popular weekend destination for Singaporeans. Suroso has worked over 30 years at PLN, previously serving as general manager and vice president of system planning.
He holds electrical engineering degrees from the Bandung Institute of Technology and a master’s in power system engineering and management from Scotland’s Abertay University.
Source: Bloomberg Markets · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing