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Proposed generation plan: CEB proposal at odds with Cabinet paper
View(s):The Ceylon Electricity Board’s (CEB) proposed generation plan, which is now published on its website, is at odds with a recent Cabinet paper submitted by Power and Energy Minister Ravi Karunanayake which proposes four more coal power plants, including one for “contingencies”.
Approval was granted last month on the Cabinet paper that contained these and several other recommendations, including pruning the powers of the regulator, Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka. It calls for three 300mw coal power plants–one in Norochcholai and two in Trincomalee–and an additional “buffer or contingency” plant.
But the CEB’s Generation Expansion Plan 2020-2039 does not mention a “buffer or contingency” power plant. Instead, it has proposed two plants in Norochcholai in 2023 and 2024, and both are to be dispatched which means there will be no “buffering”.
The plan also lists eight coal power plants for Foul Point, which is a total of 1,800mw, with the last built in 2039. The United Nations Secretary General recently said no coal power plants should be built beyond 2020.
While previous CEB generation plans listed coal plants in the South including Mirijjawila, Ambalangoda and Mirissa, all have been scrapped in favour of Puttalam and Trincomalee where minorities mostly live.
There are other discrepancies between the Cabinet paper and the CEB generation plan. For instance, the Minister has proposed 1,200mw solar power plants, 300mw rooftop solar, 650mw wind, 200mw biomass and 100mw waste-to-energy to be built by 2022 (in two years).
The Cabinet paper wants 300,000 households to generate 300mw of electricity but this means each installation is just 1kw–something industry experts said is non-viable as it will drive up cost and make maintenance expensive.
But the CEB generation plan points to a 200mw target that was initially set for 2020 and is now exceeded. It does not mention the secondary 1000mw target the Minister wants achieved by 2025. It also doesn’t speak of 300mw worth of rooftop solar power.
The Cabinet paper also proposes 650mw of wind power projects but the generation plan only has 310mw. It will take till 2032 for the Minister’s target to be achieved. The Minister wants 200mw of biomass projects but the CEB only lists 15mw up to 2022. The whole CEB generation plan has only 100mw of biomass initiatives.
The Cabinet paper has incorporated 100mw of waste-to-energy power by 2022. The generation plan makes reference to it but does not include this in the list of proposed plants. The paper also proposed three LNG plants with India (300mw), China (300mw) and Japan (400mw). The CEB generation plan has scheduled 300mw plants in 2022, 2023 and 2025. Each of these is a 300mw unit and no 400mw plant is listed.
Meanwhile, Minister Karunanayake has nominated his personal lawyer Sandun Gamage to the fifth vacant position of Commissioner at the PUCSL. His name was approved by the Constitutional Council on Friday. Mr Gamage represented Mr Karunanayake multiple times during hearings into the alleged Central Bank bond scam before the Presidential Commission appointed to inquire into the case.
Since he took over the ministry in January, the Minister has floated various emergency power proposals; contracted barge-mounted electricity outside accepted procurement procedure; and ordered the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) to appoint 27 personal nominees as coordinators to projects that have not even been initiated. He is also attempting to reduce the PUCSL t the status of “safety regulator” and “ombudsman” to the electricity industry.