Due to the lack of fuel, 2 power plants are confirmed to have shut down and the fuel which had been acquired by the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation would only last until 6pm today, The Morning learns.
Sources told The Morning that discussions are currently underway to acquire more fuel to generate electricity at the power plants.
"Currently we are still discussing on what to do. If everything fails, the other plants might also shut down and we might face a blackout. The situation doesn't look so good right now," sources close to the matter told The Morning.
UPDATE 8.33PM :
Island wide blackout averted: CPC comes to Sapugaskanada’s rescue with 900MT of oil lasting till tomorrow
The Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) stepped up to the Sapugaskanda Power Plant’s furnace oil requirement by supplying 900MT of oil to restart its operations, avoiding an island wide blackout this evening (18), The Morning learns. Speaking to The Morning, Ceylon Electricity Board Engineers Union (CEBEU) secretary Dhammika Wimalaratne confirmed that there will not be an issue until tomorrow morning (19). "Thanks to the CPC who stepped up just in time, we can manage until tomorrow morning,” he said. However, Wimalaratne noted that the oil the CEB provided to the Sapugaskanda plant would only generate 300MW of power which is not enough to continue an uninterrupted supply of electricity. “Sri Lanka will have to face power cuts for a few hours daily until there is a solution. We need to think of an immediate solution as the power plants cannot run like this," said Wimalaratne. He added that to manage the lack of oil for the power plants and to ensure people are not severely inconvenienced, there would be a 1.5 to 2 hour power cut during the day and an hour long power cut in the evening for all parts of the island at any given time on the 19th of January.