Sri Lanka signs agreement with Korean power company for power generation
Friday, 4 April 2014 00:20
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Sri Lanka has cooperated with a Korean power company to strengthen the bilateral partnership in the energy sector to boost the power generation in the island.
The Ministry of Power and Energy has a signed a letter of intent with Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO), that country’s sole power supplier, on 1 April to strengthen bilateral cooperation, according to a KEPCO statement.
The Ceylon Electricity Board under the Power and Energy Ministry has also signed a memorandum of understanding with KEPCO on the same day to develop projects in areas such as thermal power plants, renewables and power grids, the Korea Herald reported.
After signing the two deals for bilateral cooperation in the power sector in Colombo KEPCO Chief Executive Cho Hwan-eik said based on closer partnerships with the two Governmental organisations in Sri Lanka, KEPCO expects to further contribute to Sri Lanka’s power market in the near future.
According to KEPCO, the thermal power market in Sri Lanka is a feasible area for a strong bilateral partnership.
“The Government of Sri Lanka has a plan to double the facilities of thermal power generation over the next 10 years to offset the declining generation of hydroelectricity,” a spokesperson for KEPCO Lee Seo-young said.
Backed by its experiences in the Southeast Asian power market, KEPCO says it would have the upper hand when the government of Sri Lanka launched a thermal power project.
Hydro power generation in Sri Lanka has dropped to 16% of the total power generation due to the severe drought persisting in the island. Most of the hydro power reservoirs have almost dried due to the prolonged drought dropping the reservoir storage to 23.7% of total capacity.
Over 80% of the daily power requirement of Sri Lanka is now generated thermally from coal and oil incurring heavy losses to the CEB.
