Norochcholai plant resumes power generation at reduced capacity
Thursday, 13 February 2014 00:09
-
- {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
Power generation at China-built Lakvijaya coal power plant in Norochcholai has been restored at reduced capacity, the state owned power supplier Ceylon Electricity Board said.
The coal power plant has been shut down for a month after it failed for the 26th time since its inception on 11 January. A water leak in a small pipe supplying water to one of the boilers was found to be the reason for halting operations.
After repairs to the plant by the Chinese and Indian engineers the power generation has been restored. Currently the plant is at a testing level and producing 180 megawatts of electricity daily, the CEB officials said. The power generation will be increased to its full capacity of 300 megawatts and connect to the main grid shortly, the CEB said.
The CEB said repairs will continue despite the test run of the generators.
The China Machinery Engineering Corporation (CMEC), the company that built Sri Lanka’s only coal power plant in Norochcholai, has assured the Sri Lankan Government that it will repair all technical failures in the ailing plant.
The CEB was incurring losses of millions of rupees daily due to the failures at the coal power plant as the authority has to purchase fuel-generated power from private suppliers to meet the country’s daily requirement.
