News
Powercuts likely
View(s):The Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) may be compelled to impose countrywide power cuts of upto two hours in view of the breakdown of all three units of the Lakvijaya Coal Power Plant in Norochcholai, Power and Renewable Energy Ministry Secretary B.M.S. Batagoa said last night.
The breakdown was caused due to a tripping of a transmission line in the Anuradhapura-Kotmale sector. Dr. Batagoda said the repairs might take about four days and the CEB would be forced to look for alternatives to provide the 900 Mw produced from the Lakvijaya plant.
He said that with the increased demand from tomorrow onwards with the beginning of the working week, the CEB would find it difficult to meet the required capacity.
Dr. Batagoda said a team would visit the power plant to make an assessment of the situation. Power and Renewable Energy Minister Ranjith Siyambalapitiya would make an announcement about the power situation thereafter. The breakdown left several areas throughout the country without power yesterday, with interruptions being reported from places such as Anuradhapura, Trincomalee, Batticaloa, Vavuniya, Kilinochchi and Jaffna.
However, the entire electricity transmission network did not collapse due to the fault, unlike what happened during the island-wide power outage in March this year. CEB Spokesman Sulakshana Jayawardena noted that yesterday being a Saturday and Poya holiday meant that the electricity demand was much lower. As such the system was not put under too much strain due to Norochcholai being put out of action, making it easier to address network issues quickly.
Mr. Jayawardena, however, stressed it would not be possible to get all three units of the plant operational again straight away. When the plant shut down during the island-wide blackout in March, it took several days for it to become fully operational, resulting in the CEB having to impose limited power cuts.
Since it was commissioned in March 2011, the Norochcholai plant has shut down on nearly 30 occasions for a variety of reasons. The plant currently provides nearly half of the country’s energy needs.