The State-run Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) is planning to connect 100 MW of supplementary power from 1 April to the national grid, The Sunday Morning learns.
It is understood that the Technical Evaluation Committee (TEC), tasked with evaluating the supplementary power proposals, has negotiated prices with the Private Power Plants (PPP) and managed to bring down the cost below the electricity generation cost of the CEB-owned power plants.
Although Cabinet approval to procure supplementary power was granted two years ago, the CEB has yet to complete the process.
Speaking to The Sunday Morning, a senior official in the CEB management, who wished to remain anonymous, pointed to delays in obtaining approval to procure supplementary power.
“We have called for Expressions of Interest (EOIs) this time instead of calling for Requests for Proposal (RFPs). The prices are below the current CEB cost.”
Nonetheless, as learnt by The Sunday Morning, there has been no request made by the CEB’s System Control Unit to procure supplementary/emergency power to fill any gaps in the country’s power generation.
A senior CEB engineer alleged that there was no requirement as of now to procure emergency power, stressing: “We got to know that the offered prices are very high.”
In response, the official in the CEB management noted that policy decisions were taken by the management and the Power and Energy Ministry rather than by CEB engineers.
“They are supposed to facilitate the decisions taken by the Government. We are trying to reduce the electricity cost by procuring supplementary power at a lower rate than the CEB-owned diesel power plants,” the official claimed.
Highlighting the last-minute decision the CEB management had had to take last year when the water level at the Samanalawewa reservoir had decreased, the CEB official claimed that the supplementary power could have been procured earlier if the required approval had been given by the CEB engineers.
However, when contacted, Power and Energy Ministry Secretary Sulakshana Jayawardena confirmed that there had been no request from the CEB’s System Control Unit to procure supplementary power, but noted that the CEB was focusing on supplementary power to reduce its cost.
He said that no final decision on supplementary power had been made yet and if reasonably low prices were offered, the procurement process would commence.
Last month, the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL) raised concerns over the inclusion of 100 MW of emergency power in the CEB’s dispatch forecast. Despite the extremely low utilisation of emergency power plants procured in 2023, as revealed by the PUCSL, the CEB had included 100 MW of emergency power in the dispatch plan without prior approval from the commission.
Accordingly, the commission has sought clarifications from the CEB regarding the inclusion of 100 MW of emergency power in the dispatch forecast. The PUCSL has raised concerns as the CEB has proposed to purchase emergency power in 2024 as well, despite extremely low utilisation of emergency power, with an additional capacity charge of Rs. 1,594.84 million for 2024.
Meanwhile, as reported last week, the CEB is planning to float a new tender to procure nearly 150 MW of supplementary power to address the expected deficit during the upcoming dry season, starting from the end of March.
Cabinet approval for acquiring this supplementary power was secured in 2022; however, the urgency for emergency power caused a shift in priorities, leading to the delay in procurement.
Despite the already-procured emergency power agreements expected to expire by the end of next month, the board is yet to decide whether to extend agreements with independent power suppliers currently providing emergency power.