News
Norochcholai: Never ending problems in pipeline
The first unit of the Chinese-built coal power plant in Norochcholai started malfunctioning a few weeks after it was commissioned in March 2011. There have been nearly 30 breakdowns since then, sometimes resulting in the plant remaining idle for many days. One of the main issues with Unit I was that its condenser, containing 16,000 narrow pipes, kept springing leaks.
The problem with this defect was that it happened too early in the plant’s lifetime. Unit I is only three years old. The reason there are so many pipes in the condenser is that, if a few fail, the others would continue the job of transporting water to cool the unit.
But when the pipes started leaking just weeks after it became operational, the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) became concerned. Several tests have been conducted, one even involving an Indian company specialised in detecting condenser leaks. CEB sources said some hundreds of pipes are already damaged. The Chinese company that handled the project, China Machinery Engineering Corporation (CMEC), has promised to replace the condenser.
Area people make a quick buck by selling delicacies such as sea horse to Chinese workers. Pix by Hiran Priyankara
Unit II was commissioned in April 2014. By the end of last month, however, one of its turbine blades broke and the plant had to be shut down for repairs. Engineers say this, too, has happened prematurely. “Usually such damages occur years after the units have been in operation,” said one source, on condition of anonymity.
The Government has now decided to engage CMEC’s services for operation and maintenance of Lakvijaya. An agreement will be signed in Colombo on Tuesday, witnessed by the Presidents of China and Sri Lanka. “The Chinese want to stay,” said a CEB engineer, dourly. “And they want it formalised through a document.”
For three years, the CMEC will provide “operation and maintenance advisory services” to the CEB. It will even help to buy spare parts for Lakvijaya. This clause became necessary because the CMEC are not the original manufacturers of any of the components of the plant—a fact that isn’t often spoken about.
“We earlier dealt with companies from Japan or Europe who were all manufacturers of the plants they sold us,” said another senior CEB engineer. “The Chinese system is different. CMEC is the project management company. They procured equipment from various places, put them together and set up the plant.”
This means that, whenever the CEB wants to buy spares or have repairs carried out, it has to ask CMEC who will transact with the original manufacturers. “We don’t have direct dealing with any of the manufacturers,” the engineer said. “We can’t even buy our spare parts without going through CMEC.”
Harbin Electric International Company Ltd, a Chinese firm, made the major components (including the boiler, turbines and generator) of Lakvijaya and sold them to CMEC. It is not known how much of a margin CMEC kept in this arrangement. CMEC will also give advice on annual inspection and overhaul of the plant and on measures to fix malfunctioning machinery. Finally, the company will train CEB personnel to improve their technical capabilities.
There several ironies here. One is that the CMEC—which set up the coal power plant with all its machinery—will now hire out people to advise the CEB on how to rectify “the shortcomings and lapses, particularly with regard to machinery of the Unit One of the project”. Another is that CEB personnel should have been trained much earlier, not when the utility is on the verge of launching Unit III.
CMEC “cooperation” will come at a price. “What we understand is that the CEB will meet the fees of technical advisors provided by CMEC,” an official said, asking not to be named. “The amounts will presumably be negotiated between the relevant parties. It is important that we manage this situation carefully.”
Critics scoff that it is too late for that. “After the CMEC project proposal was studied by a Technical Evaluation Committee, two of its members presented a dissenting report,” said an authoritative source. “They said that CMEC was not telling them the ‘whole story’ and expressed reservations. A proper evaluation required considerable technical information. These two members felt they could not make a decision based on half that information being made available.”
Their report, however, was disregarded. And after the plant was set up, the CEB found itself even more in the dark because all the manuals were in Chinese.