The ongoing power crisis appears to be worsening by the day, with the two main generation sources of coal and hydro likely to reach dangerously low levels in the coming weeks, along with inadequate rains received by hydropower reservoirs and delays faced by the scheduled coal shipments.

The Sunday Morning learns that until sufficient coal stocks arrive in the country, the only available option left to the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) is to operate all thermal oil power plants including all furnace oil, naphtha, and diesel power plants.

The CEB’s thermal oil power generation capacity of around 604 MW comprises of the Kelanitissa Gas Turbines of 195 MW, Kelanitissa Combined Cycle Plant of 165 MW, Sapugaskanda diesel power plants of 160 MW, Uthuru Janani Diesel Power Plant of 27 MW, and the Barge Mounted Plant of 64 MW.

“As of now, all furnace oil power plants are operating and we are waiting for naphtha to operate the Kelanitissa Combined Cycle Plant, but diesel will be the last option for the CEB as we need to secure the funds to purchase diesel to operate diesel power plants,” CEB Spokesman Deputy General Manager Andrew Navamani told The Sunday Morning. 

According to him, the board is trying to maintain the power cuts at the present length of two hours and 20 minutes without further increasing the duration in the coming months.

When asked how the board was planning to maintain the duration of power cuts at the present length, he said: “We are trying our best to maintain power cuts at two hours and 20 minutes but everything else has to help us. Even God has to help us by sending rain. It has been raining for the last two days, so reservoir levels have not gone down. We have to pay money for diesel so we will leave it as the last option.”

The power crisis returned to the limelight after a scheduled 60,000 MT coal shipment was held up due to a delay at the loading point in South Africa.

As reported by The Sunday Morning last week, as a measure to maintain sufficient coal stocks until the next shipment arrived, the CEB decided to shut down a 300 MW generator at the Lakvijaya Coal Power Plant in Norochcholai and operate the West Coast Power Plant (Yugadanavi) to address the shortage.

CEB Spokesman Navamani said that the board had decided to shut down a Norochcholai generator from Thursday (22) night. “We are looking at other options like diesel, furnace oil, and naphtha,” he said.

Power cuts to be extended

Nevertheless, in such a backdrop, engineers attached to the CEB warned that power cuts would have to be extended with the shutting down of one Norochcholai generator. This was denied by Power and Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekera at a media briefing held last week.

At a press conference held on Tuesday (20), CEB Engineers’ Union (CEBEU) President Nihal Weeraratne alleged that 10-hour-long power cuts may be enforced in the country after the three generators of the Norochcholai Coal Power Plant cease to operate once coal stocks run out by 31 December. 

He explained that the CEB expected to receive 38 coal shipments containing 60,000 MT of coal by 15 April 2023 and that the five shipments that had been received so far were only sufficient until 31 December. After April, seas off the western coast are too rough to unload ships. The sixth ship is due on 6 January and it takes five days for the unloading process, which may force the CEB to extend the power cuts to at least 10 hours until 11 January.

Weeraratne further explained that the situation could be managed by limiting utilisation to one or two power plants, which would cause extended power cuts. “Currently, we have power cuts that last two hours and 20 minutes, but after December it will be extended to 10 hours,” he said.

He also said that if all three generators failed, power cuts of more than 10 hours would be enforced as the Norochcholai Power Plant fulfilled 45% of the country’s electricity demand and as water levels of hydropower plants had decreased to 75%, it was uncertain whether hydropower could reach its maximum capacity over the next few months.

Denials from the Minister 

Responding to the claims made by the CEBEU, Minister Wijesekera in his media briefing said that there was no basis for the statements made by the trade union claiming that all three units of the Norochcholai Power Plant would be non-operational at the same time. The Minister also rejected the claims of 10-hour-long daily power cuts that were said to be imposed from January.

“We have scheduled maintenance for the plant for 180 days, but none of them are happening simultaneously, putting the power supply in jeopardy. We have ensured that there will be other power plants to provide uninterrupted supply during the maintenance period. Therefore, I categorically deny the claims of the union,” Wijesekera stressed.

However, when contacted by The Sunday Morning, CEBEU President Weeraratne stressed that the reservoir capacities had now dropped to around 850 GWh but that it may rise to around 900 GWh towards the end of the year, which would ensure that there would be sufficient capacity for the upcoming dry season.

“With the shutting down of even one generator in Norochcholai, the national grid will lose nearly 270 MW. There should be a mechanism to bridge the gap. We have naphtha power plants of 150 MW, but we are still waiting for naphtha. The other option is diesel, but the cost is extremely high,” he said.

According to him, the daily demand has now dropped to around 35 GWh from the earlier 45 GWh due to several reasons including the recent tariff hike and the negative effects of the economic crisis, which has caused some industries to shut down. 

“Last week, nearly 60% of generation was fulfilled by coal and even with all three generators operating, there is still a power cut of two hours 20 minutes,” Weeraratne said.

When pressed further about the ongoing shortage in the national grid, the CEBEU President noted that around 8 GWh were in short supply at present.

On the other hand, CEB Spokesman Navamani stressed that the CEB did not have both diesel and naphtha and that it all depended on how the CEB sourced funds to continue operations. “We are nearing the hydropower reservoir capacity limit. We have only eight more days,” he stressed.

“We need naphtha by at least next Tuesday,” he added.

As per CEB statistics, as of 21 December, 50.7% of the country’s total energy requirement has been fulfilled by thermal coal from Norochcholai while the hydro contribution stood at 26.1%. The thermal oil contribution to the national grid on the same day was only 9.7%.