Empowering development

Sri Lanka came a step closer to a cheaper source of electricity yesterday with the Norochcholai power plant commencing its boiler firing ceremony. Expectation is for a unit of power to be sold at Rs. 8.04 once it produces power from January.

By Uditha Jayasinghe

Pledging a blackout free decade, Power and Energy Minister Champika Ranawaka remarked that currently a Kilo Watt hour is produced at Rs. 17.51 but is sold at Rs. 13 with the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) absorbing the rest of the cost, while delivering the thank you address at the ceremony to mark the first boiler firing.

He refuted charges of a “sham” opening and insisted that all around the world the first few weeks of a coal power plant was fired using diesel. He charged that social, economic and political hurdles prevented the realisation of the Norochcholai power project for decades and its commencement at this point should be appreciated as a landmark step Sri Lanka had taken towards development.

The first phase was built at a cost of Rs. 455 and covers an area of 242 acres. The plant commenced in 2006 and the boiler is 69m tall and 40m wide. The jetty has the capacity to bring in 65,000 metric tonnes and a separate storage facility can hold three months worth of coal. A MW300 power plant such as this requires 114 metric tonnes of coal per hour.   

“Due to the lack of political power to take this project forward, there were two results. One is that from 1998 the CEB became an unprofitable State-Owned Enterprise and the second was that the populace was condemned to paying exorbitant electricity bills,” he said, adding that with the refusal of international monetary organisations to fund large scale power projects the CEB was left with no option but to purchase power from the private sector.

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This resulted in 75% of CEB profits being used to pay for only 36% of total power requirement produced by the private sector. The Minister pointed out that due to the delay of Norochcholai, Upper Kotmale and Kerawalapitiya, the country had lost Rs. 72 billion since 1990 – this means each citizen pocketed out Rs. 3,500.

“The tide changed with the appointment of President Mahinda Rajapaksa and all the delayed projects were fast-tracked with phenomenal results. This stage of the power plant was tagged to be completed by 2012 May, but we managed to achieve that goal ahead of time with no compromise on quality even with the setback of the fire several weeks ago.”

Flanked by former Power and Energy Minister John Seneviratne and Susil Premajayanth, Ranawaka toured the entire plant and even witnessed the first coal being loaded off the massive tug boats at the port and transferred on conveyor belts to the plant. A thin stream of smoke was visible from the chimney moments after the firing commenced.

The red glow of the boiler along with the functions of the plant can be monitored from a central control room that also saw the presence of the Minister before the formal speech giving part of the ceremony commenced.

A tree planting ceremony, religious activities and cultural dances were all part of the proceedings. The roadways inside the plant were edged with banners, Sri Lankan and Chinese flags as well as the Buddhist standard, waving merrily in the stiff breeze. It was clear that most of the preparations were hastily done with many sections of the plant still in construction stage.

He reiterated steps taken to reduce carbon emissions and insisted that the Government was purchasing high grade coal in an effort to minimise environmental damage.

“Currently Sri Lanka’s per capita emission is 660 and the Norochcholai power plant will only add 45 more to this. Most of the developed countries emit a thousand times more carbon than we do. I promise that we shall maintain this record when implementing the projects ahead.”

Revamping the CEB and turning it into a more professional institution was also highlighted by him during the speech.

* US$ 455 Norochcholai power plant fires boilers ahead of President’s second  swearing-in ceremony

* Minister promises blackout free decade

* Target met one-and-a-half years ahead of schedule

* Promise of electricity at Rs.8.04 from January