• Breakdowns in Norochcholai Units 1 and 3, 100 MW of Unit 1 generation cut down
• Norochcholai Unit 3 likely to be operational in another two weeks’ time: Navaratne
• West Coast (Diesel), Kelanitissa Power Plant, GT7 and other small GTs filling deficit
• CEB owes nearly Rs. 6 b to CMEC for operating and maintaining Norochcholai plant

 The loss of nearly 400 MW of generation capacity to the national grid due to the breakdown at the Lakvijaya Coal Power Plant in Norochcholai (LVPP) last week has forced the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) to increase its thermal oil power generation to the grid to fill the shortage.  

The breakdowns come in the backdrop of the CEB owing more than Rs. 6 billion in arrears to the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) of the controversial coal power plant, China Machinery Engineering Corporation (CMEC).

The Sunday Morning learns that as a result of the increasing dependency on fuel oil, the CEB is currently preparing to procure naphtha and heavy fuel since the stocks available at present at the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) are not sufficient.

To fill the deficit, the CEB is currently operating West Coast (Diesel) and Kelanitissa Combined Cycle Plant (KCCP) together with the Gas Turbine 7 (GT7) Plant and small GT plants, it is learnt.  

In the past, the Lakvijaya Power Plant had to be shut down several times and also witnessed a number of breakdowns. While there are multiple investigations ongoing into the breakdowns, one which caused an islandwide blackout, their findings are yet to be revealed to the public.

To resume operations in two weeks?

Speaking to The Sunday Morning, CEB Spokesman Additional General Manager (Generation Division) Dhammika Navaratne said a breakdown had been reported in Unit 3 of the LVPP on Sunday (19) and local technicians had attended to the matter to rectify the issues.

“The plant will most probably be back in operation in another two weeks’ time. ‘Level A’ maintenance was scheduled in April. It won’t be sent for maintenance right away, but operations will commence once the current issue is sorted,” he said.

Navaratne explained that when a breakdown had been recorded on Sunday, a few days had been allowed for the plant to cool down and technicians had attended to the issue in the middle of last week once the equipment could be touched.

“They have found the location of the fault and as per the Norochcholai plant manager, it will take two weeks to fix. If we are to continue our plan, we want all three plants to be in operation until 15 April. After that, we will drain more water and we expect more rains,” he said.

Meanwhile, Unit 1 of LVPP has shut down again, resulting in load shedding, wherein the plant has cut down 100 MW of its generation, it is learnt. Both units of the plant were now being repaired and would hopefully resume full operations by next week, Navaratne said.

Continued troubles at LVPP

As per CEB statistics, the thermal (coal) contribution to the national grid as of Wednesday (22) was 27.5% and the thermal oil (CEB and Independent Power Producers) contribution was 18.1% and 14.6% respectively. The hydro contribution to the grid has been increased to 30.4% as against the previous low contributions of last week.

It is learnt that the CEB is planning to drain more hydro from the second week of April with the expected rains in hydropower reservoir catchment areas.

“Last week, there were small showers but no major showers were expected. With the breakdown in Norochcholai, we have to drain a little bit of water. We have taken the West Coast and KCPP,” CEB Spokesman Navaratne said.

Nevertheless, as per Scenario P approved by the CEB for the current electricity crisis, which eventually became the baseline for the recent electricity tariff hike, the CEB has assumed an average hydrology condition with expected annual inflow of around 4,500 GWh, that the current GDP will drop by 4%, and that electricity usage will follow.

It is also assumed that only 30 coal shipments are available for LVPP operations until September 2023. An additional 100 MW is expected for the first six months for the southern part of the country and the KCCP is expected to operate on naphtha (continuous supply from the CPC) and diesel.

Most recently, Unit 2 of the LVPP underwent a major overhaul and was reconnected to the grid in August last year. The maintenance was carried out by both Chinese – CMEC – and local experts. 

As stated by the CEB, maintenance of Unit 3 of the power plant was scheduled for June this year. 

The Unit 2 generator of Lakvijaya was synchronised to the national grid on 24 January 2014. Up until 31 May 2022, Unit 2 has been in operation for 61,972 hours and produced 16,088 GWh. After consuming auxiliary power, it has provided 14,512 GWh to the country. Every year, this single machine contributes about 10-15% of the country’s demand.

A ‘Level A’ category overhaul of a 300 MW coal-fired steam power plant should be performed after four to six years of operations, as per the manufacturer’s recommendation. However, the first ‘Level B’ overhaul of Unit 2 was done in August 2018 and it has been in operation for more than eight years from the first date of synchronisation, according to the CEB.

CEB’s pending payments 

Nevertheless, as learnt by The Sunday Morning, the CEB owes nearly Rs. 6 billion to CMEC for operating and maintaining LVPP in Norochcholai.

Accordingly, as at the end of 31 January this year, the CEB has a pending payment of Rs. 5,912 million directly to the CMEC out of its total debt of Rs. 224,132 million.

Industry sources indicate that throughout such occasions, the maintenance and operation of the power plant had been carried out by the CMEC.   

According to the CEB, another scheduled maintenance is pending for Unit 3 of the power plant, which has now been rescheduled for June this year. 

Lakvijaya Power Plant is the first coal power plant in the country and was built to cater to the base load of the daily demand. Phase I of the project, with a capacity of 300 MW, was commissioned in March 2010 and Phase II, with a capacity of 600 MW (2x300), was commissioned in 2014. 

Phases I and II of the project were funded by a soft loan of $ 891 million provided by Exim Bank of China. As local investment, the Sri Lankan Government invested Rs. 5.3 billion during the first stage and Rs. 11 billion during the second stage of construction. The construction was carried out by CMEC.

Prior to the recent breakdown, nearly 40% of Sri Lanka’s firm energy demand continued to be fulfilled by the Norochcholai Coal Power Plant.

Supplementary power

 The purchasing of 100 MW of supplementary power for the country’s southern regions is still under discussion, as there is a disagreement over the purchase within the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB), it is learnt.

However, Cabinet approval for the purchasing of 100 MW, as mentioned in Scenario P, has already been received.

As confirmed by CEB Spokesman Dhammika Navaratne, there has not been a final decision on the purchasing of 100 MW.

Doubts have therefore been cast over the energy mix planned in Scenario P, which was used as the baseline to revise the electricity tariffs. Concerns have been raised as to whether the CEB will benefit as expected from the increasing of electricity tariffs or whether its electricity generation costs will increase further due to the unexpected breakdowns reported at Norochcholai.