In the wake of the severe power shortage looming over the southern part of the country due to the prevailing drought, the State-run Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) yesterday (5) said that it was yet to decide on the purchase of supplementary electricity from a Private Power Plant (PPP) to meet the deficit.
As learnt by The Sunday Morning, the water storage at the Samanalawewa hydropower reservoir is now said to be sufficient to provide an uninterrupted power supply to the south for the next two months if the water is released at a speed of 0.5 million cubic metres per day.
However, if the speed is increased to around 2.5 million cubic metres, the reservoir will be drained within a few days.
Without the supply of hydropower from Samanalawewa, the CEB predicts that three-hour power cuts could be imposed in the Southern Province.
A senior official attached to the CEB’s generation division, who wished to remain anonymous, told The Sunday Morning that the hydropower from Samanalawewa was used to supply electricity during peak hours as the existing thin transmission line that supplied electricity from major power stations such as Laxapana and Mahaweli hydropower stations, the thermal plants at Kelanitissa and Sapugaskanda, and the Norochcholai coal power plant, was not sufficient to meet the demand during peak time.
Nevertheless, when contacted, CEB Chairman Nalinda Ilangakoon stressed that no decision had been made yet in relation to purchasing supplementary power.
Early this year, the Cabinet had granted approval for the CEB to call tenders for 100 MW of supplementary power from an Independent Power Plant (IPP) to ensure uninterrupted supply to the southern region.
As expected by the CEB, the requirement for the purchasing of supplementary power was necessary in the event the Samanalawewa reservoir did not receive adequate rain from May to June. However, the CEB has failed to take a decision as yet on purchasing supplementary power to provide an adequate power supply to the south despite the Samanalawewa hydropower reservoir catchment area not receiving sufficient rain yet.
In March, the CEB appointed a technical committee following Cabinet approval to evaluate the proposals to purchase 100 MW of supplementary power to meet the energy shortage in the southern region.
As highlighted in a letter dated 25 October 2022, CEB Chairman Ilangakoon had informed CEB General Manager Eng. Dr. D.C.R. Abeysekara that a total capacity shortage of approximately 100-120 MW had been predicted for the first six months of 2023, with a decision taken to enact speedy procurement for this capacity shortage.
Given this backdrop, an authoritative source attached to the CEB told The Sunday Morning that if power had been purchased from an IPP several months ago, the unit price would have been lower than its price at present in the event the CEB decided to go ahead with purchasing supplementary power.
“This is a very tricky situation. The CEB could have purchased power at a lower rate than what it is now if it had purchased at the right time by predicting the situation,” the source claimed.