CEB Engineers Union attributes power outage to technical and administrative glitch   

The power crisis last Monday which resulted in an island-wide shut down in power was due to technical fault at the Kerawalapitiya Sub Station and failure to deploy experienced staff at the plant, a report of the CEB Technological Engineers and Superintendent Union revealed. 

The technical fault at the Kerawalapitiya Sub Station and the breakdown at the Norochcholai Power Plant are two separate incidents, the report divulged.

The union has submitted this report on the power breakdown incident to the committee investigating the matter, upon its request.
Maintenance at the substation is purely based on the technical know-how and experience of the superintendents and other officers and not according to any approved procedure, the report highlighted.

According to the report, the superintendents and other officials manning the power plants and substations have not been given proper training although engineers are provided with local and overseas training,

This factor has been neglected by the CEB top administration in the past and present the report revealed while questioning as to why five security systems between the Kerawalapitiya sub-station and the Norochcholai power plant had failed to operate.

The report brings to the notice of authorities the delays in installing generators that were purchased to power the equipment that cools down generators at the Norochcholai power plant.

The union pointed out that although a state-of-the-art operations centre for the national grid was set up, the staff stationed at the centre lack proper experience. It added that experienced officers were removed from the operations centre and reassigned to other office duties. (BS)