Committee to look into low cost power purchase - Ministry of Power and Energy

Power and Energy Minister W. D. J. Seneviratna has appointed a three member committee chaired by Prof. R. A. Athalage of the University of avenues for Moratuwa to explore purchasing electricity units generated at the Kerawalapitiya Power Plant under the least cost basis. The construction of Kerawalapitiya Power Plant with a capacity of 300 MW has been completed in one year, to avoid the electricity crisis anticipated in 2009.

The Kerawalapitiya Power Plant constructed with technological contribution of local engineers by West Cost Electricity Company Limited, affiliated to Lanka Transformer Ltd., which is a CEB owned Subsidiary Company, generates an electricity of 200 MW at Phase I using profitable heavy oil. The balance 100 MW is generated using thermal and will be added to the national grid in 2009 and will be converted to a natural gas generation plant afterwards.

The committee has been instructed to submit its report within two weeks and the generation of electricity will begin after the report is received.

Dr. P. W. Weerasinghe and T. D. Handagama, Deputy General Manager of the Ceylon Electricity Board function as the other two members of the Committee.

Meanwhile, work on the new jetty of the 960 mega watt Norochcholai Coal-powered Generation Project will begin this week, the Power and Energy Ministry said. The civil engineering component of the manpower have and other construction works have been completed while the installation of the transmission line from Puttalam to Veyangoda is in progress.

Eighty displaced families have been paid compensation and relocated. The mega project is expected to be completed by 2011, Ministry sources said.

With the completion of stage I, 300 mega watts will be added to the national grid in 2011. The total cost of the project is estimated at US$ 455 million, the Ministry said.