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No green light to proceed with Norochcholai extension

24 Oct 2021

BY The Sunday Morning Business Desk Several months after the initial decision was taken to halt the construction of the Norochcholai Coal Power Plant extension, the final decision on whether to proceed with the construction is yet to be taken by the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB), The Sunday Morning Business learns. Speaking to us, a CEB senior engineer, who wished to remain anonymous, stated that since the decision was not finalised, there was no progress with regard to the development of the Norochcholai Coal Power Plant extension. Mid-year, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa instructed the CEB to halt the construction of the power plant extension, as focus was shifted as a result of the decision to increase the country’s clean energy capacity to 90% as opposed to the earlier agreed ratio of 70%. In the President’s election manifesto, he highlighted the importance of the renewable energy sector of the country. He stated that by 2030, the country’s renewable energy mix was expected to be 40% of the total portfolio, and had also anticipated that hydro and renewable energy together would account for 80% of the overall energy mix by 2030. However, it is learnt, the CEB engineers in July, said they were in favour of coal power, as they claimed it was the cheapest base power the country could afford at present. They identified that a future coal power plant development was an integral requirement in order to cater to the power sector demand at a lower cost. With reference to the CEB’s power generation plan, by 2025, the capacity share of coal power plants will be 30% while natural gas power plants will be 35%. By 2030, this would change to 30% coal and 34% natural gas. The CEB also stressed that in the long term, it was important to recognise that coal power plant development programmes would have a favourable influence on the economy. Countries like India, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Bangladesh developed large-scale coal power plants recently to facilitate their economic development. The timely implementation of the coal power plants identified in Sri Lanka was essential, they said, and delaying the construction of these plants any further would increase the price of electricity and affect the economic development of the country, they claimed.


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