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PUCSL grants CEB conditional approval for power purchase deal with Ace Power Embilipitiya
The Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL) has authorised the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) to buy 93MW of emergency power on a six-month agreement with Ace Power Embilipitiya (Pvt) Ltd, subject to several conditions.
Among other things, the CEB must ensure all existing power plants have fuel before the emergency power plant receives it. Any extra costs of emergency power shall not be passed through to consumers “as this is an emergency created through inaction of the transmission licensee” (CEB). And the CEB must call tenders on or before June 1, 2022, to procure power from appropriate plants for the Southern grid.
Another condition is that the respective power purchase agreement should clearly specify how the capacity charge (the rates users pay to secure a sufficient energy on a power grid during peak hours of electrical consumption) is dealt with in the event of fuel unavailability.
“Commission recommends no capacity charge to be paid to the power plants purchased on emergency basis in the case of non-availability of capacity due to unavailability of fuel,” the PUCSL states.
The Power Ministry this week sought PUCSL approval to buy electricity bypassing tender procedure from three furnace oil plants and from diesel-fired emergency/supplementary power plants. The 100MW Ace Power Embilipitiya, 20MW Ace Power Matara and 51MW Sapugaskanda Asia Power were retired in April and August 2020. Separately, the CEB hopes to buy 130MW from diesel-fired emergency/supplementary power plants.
However, the PUCSL granted conditional approval for only a six-month power purchase deal with Ace Power Embilipitiya. In a report attached to its permission letter, the regulator faulted the CEB for having delayed the implementation of several power projects–including a long list of approved renewable energy initiatives–since 2018. Transmission line construction has also been delayed for year, it states.
“This inaction of the transmission licensee for the last six years is the main contributory factor to the present power sector,” it holds.
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