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Prospects dim for fully commissioned Norochcholai as 2 units take another break
View(s):Two units of the Chinese-built Lakvijaya Coal Power Plant in Norochcholai are out of commission again, depriving the national grid of 600 MW of power.
The third 300-MW unit was fired up last night, but is still on a test run pending official commissioning, said a Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) spokesman.
The trouble-ridden Unit 1, which was commissioned in 2011, tripped on Wednesday, after an instrument error triggered its protection system. “Engineers could not reach the location because of high temperatures,” said CEB Deputy General Manager, Senajith Dassanayake. “We had to wait four to five days for it to cool, before attending to it. It is almost ready.”
“Unit 1 has repeatedly experienced breakdowns, largely due to defects in the thousands of pipes inside its mammoth condenser,” Mr Dassanayake said, adding that it functioned without a hitch from April, but is temporarily out of operation now.
Unit 2 was “closed for maintenance”, he said, but added that there had been a “shaft vibration”. “We inspected the turbine blades and felt that some of them needed to be replaced, so this is being attended to.” He estimated the unit would be ready after maintenance in “10 to 15 days”.
Unit 3 is now being tested prior to commissioning. “It has been running on a test basis for one month,” he said.