News
CEB wants to buy fuel directly bypassing CPC
- Power Minister seeks part of the USD 500mn Indian credit line for this purpose
- Engineers warn of power cuts due to worsening fuel situation
The Ministry of Power under which the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) operates is seeking a direct allocation from the Finance Ministry for fuel instead of depending on the Energy Ministry under which comes the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation.
The Power Ministry’s request comes amidst a spat between the two ministries and between the CEB and the CPC on the supply of fuel. Recently, the CPC asked the CEB to find the US dollars to supply it with the fuel required for power generation.
Coming amidst unannounced power cuts and the possibility of impending power cuts due to the dollar crisis, the Power Ministry has requested the Treasury to allocate part of the USD 500 million Indian credit line to buy fuel for the CEB directly from the Indian Oil Company (IOC)
Power Minister Gamini Lokuge told the Sunday Times the Ministry had urged part of the Indian money be reserved for fuel purchases for at least six months to overcome the crisis.
He said the CEB would require fuel to the value of US dollars 30 million a month to maintain uninterrupted power supplies.
Mr. Lokuge said his ministry had requested the Treasury and the Foreign Ministry to pursue discussions with the Indian government to look into the possibility of obtaining further assistance to buy fuel.
He said they were also considering making use of the Treasury allocations for coal purchases to buy fuel as further payments for coal would be required only in September. The expectations were that one of the units at the frequently crashing Norochcholai power plant would be revived by next Tuesday making available 300 Megawatts of power.
The developments come as President Gotabaya Rajapaksa this week discussed the current power crisis at the weekly cabinet meeting. Earlier, a separate meeting was due to be held with the President on the fuel supplies and power situation.
The Sunday Times learns that the President had requested the Energy Ministry and the Power Ministry to discuss fuel requirements and obtain the supplies for the rest of the month.
However, the CEB Engineers Union (CEBEU) said there was uncertainty regarding the power generation situation due to the shortage of fuel and receding water levels in the reservoirs.
CEBEU executive committee member Eranga Kudahewa said there could be power cuts after Tuesday due to the prevailing fuel crisis.
Despite the restoration efforts, the Norochcholai unit would be delayed until January 26 or 27. There would be a shortage of 300Mw of power a day as a result.
He said even if the unit was in full operation, there still would be a loss of 100Mw a day due to the lack of furnace oil to run the Sapugakanda power plant.
“There is diesel availability only for just over five days; therefore there is uncertainty of obtaining diesel for power plants. This means there would be another loss of 280Mw,” he said.
Mr. Kudahewa also warned that due to the fuel crisis, more hydro power generation was required and the CEB had only around 750 Gwh (Gigawatt hours) capacity of hydropower until the inter-monsoons in April and southwest monsoon during the end of May.
He said they also had limitations in drawing water from the six reservoirs as water was required for drinking, irrigation and cultivation.
The union leader said they had to preserve water at the Laxapana reservoir as its water was preserved to reduce the salinity of the Kelani river when the sea water seeps into the river during droughts.
CEB Media Spokesperson Andrew Nawamani said the Sapugaskanda Power plant ceased to function around 2 pm on Saturday due to the shortage of furnace oil. “As it is the weekend the consumption of power is less. Therefore there would not be power cuts during this weekend,” he said.
“We would assess the availability of fuel and evaluate our capability to hydropower on Monday. The Kelanitissa power plant will only have fuel to generate power for six more days. The situation is moving from bad to worse, but we still plan to provide an uninterrupted power supply,” he said.
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