Self-sufficiency in electricity in next 10 months:

Era of bottle lamps will be ended

Ariya RUBASINGHE

Electricity is an essential component for development of a nation. Politicians in the past paid scant attention to develop this sector and major projects envisaged to develop electricity supply was kept in abeyance for political reasons. This resulted in Sri Lanka experiencing a huge power crisis and this developed to a critical extent in 2000 forcing the Electricity Board to curtail power supplies for several hours each day, compelling many industries to curb their production activities and incur heavy loses. Continued power cuts were also one of the factors that contributed to the fall of PA Government in 2001.

Ranil Wickremesinghe Government which assumed office in 2001 pledging normalization of electricity supplies as one of its promises however did not address the core issue of implementing the stalled power projects and take long term measures to end the crisis. Instead, they attempted to find solace through the private sector thereby rewarding their political patrons, contravening even Tender Procedures, to set up small scale power generating units and sell the electricity so generated to the Electricity Department. This was a costly exercise by which the Department paid Rs 35-40 per unit and sold it to the customer for Rs 10-11, incurring a huge loss. The Department is yet struggling to recover from the heavy losses made due to this myopic measure. For political reasons and for fear for of losing votes they failed to take bold decisions for implementing Norochcholai and Upper Kotmale power projects.

President Rajapaksa assuming office in 2005 took the much needed bold step to implement the major power projects regardless of political consequences. Due to this wise decision three major power projects, Kerawelapitiya, Norochcholai and Upper Kotmale are under construction and preliminary work relating to another project at Sampur has been completed.

Electricity to a major part of Sri Lanka is supplied through the main transmission grid in Veyangoda connected to major power projects throughout the island, and through substations located in many parts of the country. However, these facilities can only meet 85 percent electricity required by the household and the balance requirement is met by the off-grid small scale power plants established in various parts of the country. These plants use renewable energy technologies such as mini-hydro, solar, wind and dendro technologies.

Transmission and distribution losses through the main transmission lines amount to about 12 percent of the power generated. Steps have been taken to curtail this loss by expanding the capacity of the main transmission lines. The existing 132 Kv transmission lines are being replaced with 220 Kv and 400 Kv lines. The Asian Development Bank is funding this project and out of the 160m US$ allocation 100m US$ will be received this year.

The implementation of following transmission development activities is expected to ensure a reliable power supply and reduce transmission losses of the national grid. These work will include, construction of Katunayake Grid Sub - Station, improvement of Valachchenai Transmission Project, augmentation of Colombo A Grid Sub-Station, augmentation of Colombo 1 Grid Sub-Station, Installation of 220 Kw/132 Kw inter-bus transformer at Rantembe Power Station, and installation of the 3rd220 Kw/132 Kw transformer at Biyagama.

The private sector is also being encouraged to set up small scale power projects using renewable energy technologies, to minimize the dependence on oil and gas. In this regard land has been allocated in the Puttalam district to establish power plants utilizing windmill technology. Similarly plants using hydro-technology will be established in areas where there is abundant water flowing from small waterfalls in the hill country area.

With these development work in hand the Electricity Board is planning to make the country self sufficient in power supply within the next 10 months although it was earlier targeted to be in 2012, disclosed M.M.C. Ferdinando. He said with the commissioning of major projects small power projects using oil and gas will be closed down. Also, the era of Bottle Lamps will be ended and electricity which was a luxury denied to majority of the population living in the rural areas will become a part and parcel of their daily life.

Also, the Board have reconstructed the old Lakshapana and Ukuwela hydro power projects with the capacity of 215 MW. This increased the power capacity which was 2400 GW in 2005 to 2690 GW in 2009. The numbers of electricity householders have been increased 4.33 million in 2009 from 3.90 million in 2005. The percentage of number of householders with power supply increased to 84 percent in 2009 from 76.7 percent in 2005.

In addition to this, 7,600 village level small scale Electricity Development projects have been implemented under various projects such as Gama Neguma, Maga Neguma, Eastern Udanaya and Rajarata Navodaya.

The Electricity Board has a sufficient workforce to handle laying transmission lines and attend to repairs and other requirements throughout the island. The Board has provided training to several thousand youth in the rural areas thereby alleviating unemployment.

Kerawalapitiya Power Plant

The Kerawalapitiya power-generation project is the second largest thermal combined cycle power plant. It is a Government/Private Sector joint venture. The Private Sector partner is Lanka Aloka AB (Pvt) Limited. Arc Developments International (Pvt) Limited is an Australian registered company and the major partner in Lanka Aloka.

To be continued

(The writer is Director General, Media Centre for National Development)