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Intermittent daytime power cuts to continue
View(s):By Sandun Jayawardana
The Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) will continue to impose intermittent power cuts, an official said yesterday. The power situation was aggravated after yet anohter power plant was shut down on Friday due to technical issues. The 163 Mega Watt (MW) privately owned Sojitz Kelanitissa power plant broke down on Friday adding to the existing breakdowns.
The CEB has been without one 300MW generator at the Lakvijaya coal power plant in Norochcholai for more than a week, while the prevailing drought has also placed severe limits on hydropower generation. Repairs to the 300MW Unit of the Lakvijaya plant were still ongoing and the CEB expects the plant to become operational again towards the end of next week.
“At the moment, it is extremely challenging for us to manage during daytime peak hours,” CEB spokesman Sulakshana Jayawardena told the Sunday Times. “As such, the people will have to face daytime power interruptions when high demand makes it necessary to balance the national grid.”
Mr Jayawardena, however, said the CEB would not announce a schedule for the power cuts as such interruptions would vary depending on which areas were experiencing the most demand. Hydropower generation was also at just 36 per cent. It was difficult to generate hydropower during the day as water had to be released for cultivation purposes, he said.
“But we can manage the nighttime peak at the moment as some water is released to us during the night for hydropower generation,” the spokesman said. However, the unannounced power cuts were causing severe inconvenience to the people, with some of them lasting more than two hours and happening twice a day.
The country’s nighttime peak electricity demand stands at 2,400MW and daytime peak demand between 2,000-2,100MW.
The CEB is encouraging those using self-generation schemes to generate their own electricity while also appealing to the people to conserve power.