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Warnings of New Year darkness amidst half day power cuts

30 Mar 2022

  • CEB engineers warn of pitch black festival if no fuel or rains
  • PUCSL approves 13-hour power cuts today
As Sri Lanka prepares to face unprecedented 13-hour power cuts today (31), the Ceylon Electricity Board Engineers’ Union (CEBEU) said yesterday (30) that the country would have to spend the Sinhala and Hindu New Year in darkness if the CEB does not receive fuel and if the rains do not come in April. “Currently, we only have fuel for the Barge Mounted Power Plant and for the Kelanitissa Combined Cycle Power Plant, about 1,500 metric tonnes (MT) of fuel. All other thermal power stations are shut down. The fuel at the Barge Mounted Power Plant is only sufficient for three more days. With this current situation, the number of hours of power cuts will increase. If we receive no fuel, and if the rains do not come next month, we will have to spend the ‘Avurudu’ season in darkness,” CEBEU President Anil Ranjith said while speaking at a media briefing. Meanwhile, the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL) approved the CEB’s request for 13-hour interruptions to the power supply tomorrow (31 March). The CEB had sought to increase the duration of power cuts to 13 hours due to the unavailability of fuel for thermal power plants. Ranjith said that if the Government and the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) provide fuel for the CEB, the number of hours of power cuts can be reduced as much as possible. “If we receive fuel, then our only problem is hydropower generation. The water levels have drastically reduced in our water reservoirs but we can still generate 300 megawatts (MW) of electricity during the daytime and 700 MW during the night time.” Furthermore, Ranjith blamed the political hierarchy and the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL) for failing to implement actions that the CEBEU had proposed ahead of time as measures to avoid the current crisis. “We earlier proposed one-hour cuts last year, in order to save our water reserves. But these were not implemented and the crisis was not properly managed,” he said. A series of issues has plagued the country’s energy-related sector since the beginning of the year. Since January 2022, the CEB has been struggling to find fuel for its thermal power stations, as the CPC, which imports fuel, has been throttled by the foreign exchange shortage in the country. Ultimately, the Sri Lankan public has been forced to endure lengthy power cuts lasting hours per day following routine shutdowns of the thermal power stations. 


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