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CEB Engineers warn of 5-7 hour power cuts despite rains

17 May 2022

  • Paints worst-case scenario if no fuel for thermal power plants 
  • Weekday demand 2,800 MW, which requires 700 MW from thermal
  • Norochcholai Unit 1 expected to be operational by 21 May 
The Ceylon Electricity Board Engineers’ Union (CEBEU) said yesterday (16) that in the “worst-case scenario”, if there is no fuel available at all for thermal power plants, the country will have to face power outages of five to seven hours.  Unit One of the Lakvijaya Coal Power Plant in Norochcholai faced a breakdown earlier this month, which led to its closure. CEBEU President Anil Ranjith told The Morning that while it was being repaired, another issue had arisen. Thus, Unit One will be operational again by next week, the latest by 21 May, he stated.  “Once the 300 MW of Unit One is also added to the national grid, in the worst-case scenario, if there is no fuel available at all for the thermal power stations, the country will have to face five- to seven-hour power cuts again,” he said.  He added that the showery conditions experienced around the island have ensured that the hydropower reservoirs have reached water levels of approximately 50%, but that this is still insufficient. “Our hydropower reservoirs have mostly reached water levels of 50%, which is good news. This adds about 1,300 megawatts (MW) to the national grid, while the two units that are currently operational at the Lakvijaya Coal Power Plant in Norochcholai add 540 MW. Other mini-hydropower and solar power sources add about 300 MW to the national grid. The demand, on a working day without curfew, is about 2,800 MW. Therefore, we still need about 700 MW to be supplied from the thermal power stations,” Ranjith told The Morning yesterday.  Sri Lanka is currently experiencing a serious fuel shortage, especially impacting the transport sector of the country. On 5 May, Minister of Power and Energy Kanchana Wijesekera said that releasing diesel to the market had been limited, as priority was given to providing diesel for power generation due to the breakdown at the Norochcholai power plant. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe yesterday (16) said that although there was a possibility that the daily power outages could increase to 15 hours per day, the Government was able to avert this crisis by obtaining money. Although power cuts have been limited to around three-and-a-half hours per day during the past month, the country experienced worse days in March this year, when power cuts sometimes stretched to 13 hours per day.

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