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Kelanitissa GT-7 back on track by June

by Ranil Wijayapala

The GT-7 power plant at Kelanitissa thermal power complex will be back on track by June with the assistance of an Italian expert who arrived in the country.

The Italian expert assured Minister Karu Jayasuriya on his visit to Kelanitissa power station on Saturday that the repair of the turbine can be completed by June this year with the availability of spare parts.

According to CEB officials, 10 more 'plates' which are being manufactured by using special metal to be operated under a temperature of 1350 centegrades will be brought to Sri Lanka soon to facilitate the repairing process.

The Italian company owns only three machines to manufacture those 'plates' for their clients worldwide and the delay is due to this situation, he added.

The GT -7 115 MW power plant which was set up in 1997 following the 1996 power crisis was shut down for maintenance purposes in August last year.

The CEB had to face problematic situation due to non availability of technology and spare parts to repair this power plant which can fulfil 10 per cent of the country's power demand.

However,decisions regarding this were taken expeditiously after sending CEB representatives to Italy and after having Government to Government discussions regarding this during the last two months.

Two out of six 20 MW gas turbines at the Kelanitissa power station were also not functioning last weekend and they are also being repaired by the CEB to cope with the power situation.

However, these old fashioned gas turbines were removed from operation due to their inefficiency but the CEB had to use these plants during this crisis period.

The CEB employees due to their dedicated service were able to repair another non operative thermal power plant at the Sapugaskanda thermal power complex ahead of scheduled.

Three more 10 MW thermal power plants which were set up in 1998 are now being repaired at the Sapugaskanda thermal power complex. The officials assured the Minister that the repairs can be completed by April.

The Minister said good signs for a permanent solution for the power crisis are now apparent following the expeditious decisions taken by the Government to solve the problem soon.

"If decisions were taken regarding the repair of the GT -7 plant at Kelanitissa at the beginning there wouldn't have been a power crisis in the country now", the Minister added.

Minister Jayasuriya commended the CEB employees for their devoted efforts to solve the power crisis soon.

General Manager of the CEB D. C. Wijeratne, Deputy General Manager (Thermal Complex) Shavindranath Fernando also accompanied the Minister during this visit.

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