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Electricity consumption hits peak; CEB appeals for New Year restraint
View(s):The Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) has appealed to the people to use electricity sparingly during the National New Year season to avoid sudden power failures due to overloading or high consumption.
CEB Chairman W.P. Ganegala said technical staff had been put on standby and arrangements made to buy additional power from private suppliers if there was a shortfall.
“However we are appealing to the people to assist us by reducing the use of electricity. This will help prevent tripping caused by an overload,” he said. The warning came after power failures a few days ago in several parts of the country when there was a shortfall of 700 Mw with the Kerawalapitiya and the Norochcholai power plants malfunctioning.
The CEB’s Additional General Manager Bandula Tilakasena said electricity consumption has increased due to the current heat wave which made people to use fans and ACs more regularly while there was also increased production in factories due to New Year demands.
Meanwhile, the highest ever consumption of electricity in Sri Lanka’s history was recorded on Monday night. The consumption soared to 2,164 Mw around 7 p.m. (night peak) on April 8, according to the CEB’s Daily Generation and Reservoir Statistics report. This is equivalent to nearly 29 million tube televisions, or 54 million LCD/LED televisions, being switched on at this hour. The former consumes around 75 watts while the latter burns up around 40 watts.
This unprecedented high consumption could have been due to the prevailing heat wave. “People might have used more fans and air conditioners or pumped more water,” the CEB’s Additional General Manager Bandula Tilakasena said. Usage was so high on Monday that the CEB had to enforce a power cut – a process known as “manual load shedding”— between 8.44 p.m. and 2.23 a.m.
In addition, there were breakdowns at the Norochcholai coal power plant and the Kerawalapitiya plant. Both plants are now in operation.
Meanwhile, the highest ever consumption of electricity during daytime was also recorded on Monday, when around 1,836 Mw were used up at 3 p.m. (day peak). This is equivalent to 24 million tube televisions, or more than 46 million LCD/LED televisions, being switched on.
This record was broken the next day when at 11.30 a.m., usage was recorded at 1,853 Mw —17 megawatts more than the previous high.
These dramatic increases in consumption also forced the CEB to generate more power from hydropower reservoirs. In Kotmale, this proved to be a problem because Irrigation authorities and the CEB share the water of the Kotmale reservoir.
“CEB and Irrigation Department officials meet every week to discuss how the water should be shared,” said a CEB official. “We drew beyond our allocated limit last week because the alternative would have been power cuts.”
The Kotmale reservoir provides water to farmers in the North Central Province.
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