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Power cuts possible within next 10 days: Ramesh Pathirana

12 Jan 2022

  • Appears to contradict Power Minister Gamini Lokuge
  • Power outages in many areas yesterday
  BY Pamodi Waravita Co-Cabinet Spokesman Dr. Ramesh Pathirana said yesterday (11) that there is a possibility of power cuts occurring within the next 10 days, as scheduled by the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB), due to the ongoing repairs at the Lakvijaya Coal Power Plant in Norochcholai. “The CEB has released a schedule which shows when possible power cuts could occur. It will take about 10 days to complete the repairs at the Norochcholai Power Plant, so there is a possibility that power cuts may occur during this time,” said Dr. Pathirana at the weekly cabinet decisions press briefing held yesterday. The CEB released a power cut schedule on Monday (10) which has divided the country into four groups. Between 5.30 p.m. and 9.30 p.m. one-hour power outages have been scheduled for each of these areas from Monday to Saturday. Sunday is not included in the schedule. However, earlier in the day on Monday, Power Minister Gamini Lokuge had said at a press conference that the public need not be concerned about daily power outages as of now, as “all measures” have been taken to prevent power shortages from taking place in the country. “Permission was obtained from the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL) to go for power outages only in the case of emergencies. As of now, the CEB can function without a power outage. We have three units which are powered by coal, each with a capacity of 300 megawatts (MW). One of those has faced a small emergency these days but it will be fixed by 20 January as engineers from China are already on their way to look at it. The rest of the demand is met through hydropower. We believe that the demand increases this month and we need extra power. We will get that from fuel, through the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC). The CEB needs to pay the CPC. This is a debt owed for many years now. We are working to pay them. We need 2,400 MW of power per day. On some days, it increases by 200 MW. We can now face that problem as the CPC is now giving fuel to the Kelanitissa and the Colombo Port Power Stations,” he said. Short power outages were common over the past week due to the power crisis experienced by the CEB as a result of the lack of fuel to its power stations. Yesterday, several areas, including Wattala, Malabe, Akuressa, Maharagama, Nugegoda, Boralesgamuwa, Mount Lavinia, and Ratmalana, experienced power outages. However, the CEB told media that a sudden breakdown of a privately owned generator at the Kelanitissa power plant was to blame for these outages. Reports show that the CPC released a stock of 10,000 metric tonnes (MT) of furnace oil to the CEB on the night of 7 January to resolve the power crisis. On Monday, Power Minister Gamini Lokuge said that the CPC is releasing fuel needed for the Kelanitissa and Colombo Port Power Stations as well. Dr. Pathirana added yesterday that the country has enough fuel to run the Sapugaskanda Power Station, and said that the crisis will be managed in the next few days. He further noted that President Gotabaya Rajapaksa had a discussion with all the relevant parties on Monday, where he had requested that the crisis be managed without hindering the daily lives of the public. The statement released by the Presidential Media Division on Monday regarding the matter noted that officials have said that the proper management of fuel power stations could prevent outages.


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