Sri Lanka’s energy regulator is urging the government to take urgent action to prevent a looming power crisis expected in a few months.
The Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka said successive failures of monsoons have led to very low storage in hydro power reservoirs,less than 500 GWh.
The regulator has pointed out that with the demand increasing and supply decling there is a clear mismatch which is expected to intensify with the looming drought in catchment areas.
It recommends a series of immediate actions to “mitigate the impact of power shortages” during the January – April period in 2017, usually dry months in the island.
“CEB should take immediate action to purchase shortage in generation from available plants and buy from outside sources as well,” the PUCSL said.
It recommends that the state-run Ceylon Petroleum Corporation fuel refinery and private power plants should maintain strategic fuel reserves to cope with supply disruptions.
“In addition, CEB should look in to the possibility of importing energy from these plants to the grid,” the PUCSL said.
The CEB plans to add 170 MW of furnace oil fired generation capacity in 2017 under its generation plan.
The Planning Unit of the Ceylon Electricity Board after a self imposed exile has now finally decided to call for tenders to purchase emergency power. Questions are being asked as to why the CEB planning unit had not proposed any meaningful solutions for the looming crisis in advance.
CEB has already floated a tender for 50 mobile generation units and the commission says CEB should expedite procurement process and ensure the availability of plants by March 2017.
The regulator also said the CEB “should expedite the procurement process” in its tender for 50 mobile generation units after bids closes today (4) and ensure the availability of plants by March 2017.
Meanwhile questions were raised as to why the contracts of private power plants that were operated by Aitkin Spence and Hamas that operated on heavy furnace oil, a cheaper source of energy were not renewed.
CEB Engineers’ Union (CEBEU) official said that the main rescuer for any power crisis is the Norochcholai power plant. “However when there is lighting and other natural breakdown the system generates an automatic single which ‘trips off’ the plant causing a breakdown that takes days to repair.
“The solution for this is to redo some of the transmission lines and this needs an investment of around Rs.150 million.” (SS)
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