New project for electricity development in Colombo City

Pathmasekara NISSANKA Rambukkana Group Corr

The Colombo City, the commercial capital of Sri Lanka is fast developing as one of the main commercial hubs of the South East Asia. In order to cope up with the expectations of the prospective investors and business community, upgrading of the infrastructure facilities is a mandatory requirement.

N J C S Perera Project Director CEB Greater Colombo Distribution project

If these developments do not take place in time, tremendous hardships will be faced by the people of Sri Lanka. The Electricity sector is the most important among these sectors which has a direct impact on the economic development and the difficulties faced by the electricity sector has become a national issue.

If the Colombo City Electricity supply is not developed properly, the effects would be experienced by the entire society as well as by the economy of Sri Lanka in particular. Under such circumstances, it is the responsibility of Ceylon Electricity Board to provide a reliable and uninterrupted electricity supply to Colombo City electricity consumers. In view of the above, the CEB has already formulated and commenced a new electricity project aimed at providing a reliable power supply to Colombo City.

Electricity supplies

The Colombo City Electricity Distribution Development Project initiated by the Ceylon Electricity Board receives the funds necessary for the project under a loan agreement signed by the government of Sri Lanka with Japan Bank of International Cooperation (JBIC) and the loan amount is Rs 6334 million. It has been envisaged under the project to replace and refurbish outdated and overloaded electrical switchgear and underground cables. The customers on the waiting lists for new electricity supplies would be benefited under these development activities. In parallel with the project, the JBIC has assisted the CEB in providing a consultancy service for enabling the CEB to address the critical issues faced during project implementation.

It has also been possible to obtain the services of experienced local consultants along with services of foreign consultants which has enabled to save Rs 172.5 million that would have gone out of the country and this money is now allocated for further developments under the project, according to the Project Director of Colombo City Electricity Distribution Development Project N J C S Perera. The consultancy services contract has been awarded to the Joint Venture of Tokyo Electric Power Services Co. Ltd. (TEPSCO) and Electric Power Development Co. (J-Power). In association with Fichtner GmbH & Co. KG (Fichtner), Germany. Takazi Izumi, is the Project Manager of Consultancy Services contract. The process of pre qualification of bidders has been completed and bids have been invited from the pre-qualified bidders for the construction work of the project.

CCEDD project

Project Director Sirinimal Perera emphasized the following further in this regard.

Under this project it would be possible to provide a reliable and efficient electricity supply to the consumers meeting their specific requirement. The project has been formulated in the year 2001. The JBIC has agreed to provide funds for the project. The JBIC will provide Japanese Yen 5959 million (Rs 4,138 million) and the CEB will provide Rs 2,196 million towards the project cost. Total estimated cost is Rs 6,334 million.

The project works of CCEDD project have been subdivided into four packages;

Package A: GIS Substations

* Installation of one Bay of 132k V GIS Kolonnawa Grid Substation.

* Installation of ten Bay of 132k V GIS Kelanitissa Grid Substation.

* Upgrading of Primary Substation “C” (33/11k V, 3x12.5 MVA to 132/11 k V), 2x31.5 MVA)

* Control/Protection system for 132kV and 11kV Switchgear.

l Installation of RTU for SCADA control, communication and telecommunication system.

* Buildings and Services (132kV GIS building and 132kV control and protection room etc.)

Package B: Design, supply, construction, testing and commissioning of single circuit of 132kV underground cables:

* From Kelanitissa Grid Substation to Primary Substation “C” with a route length of approx. 2.0km and

Greater Colombo Project Power Distribution Exchange. Pictures by Pathmasekara Nissanka

* From Kolonnawa Grid Substation to Primary Substation “C” with a route length of approx 6.7km.

Cable routes are mainly located within main streets in Colombo City and crossing a canal, major roads, Railways, etc.

Package C: Construction and Rehabilitation of 11kV Distribution System in Colombo city and Augmentation of one Primary Substation.

Design, supply, installation and commissioning of following works in Colombo city:

* Installation/ replacement of 11kV cables: approximately 130km

* Installation of 11kV/0.4kV Compact Distribution Substations: Approximately 100 Nos.

* Installation of Low Voltage cables: approximately 40 km

* Installation of Feeder Pillars: approximately 200 Nos.

* Augmentation of Primary Substation “H” (33/11kV, 2x16MVA to 33/11kV, 3x16MVA, including the required 33kV and 11kV transformer control panels and 11kV outgoing panels),

6.Supply and installation/ replacement of 11kV Switchgear panels at Primary and Distribution Substations: approximately 474 Nos. (Most of these panels need to be linked with the proposed Distribution Control Centre under Package-D),

l Installation/ replacement of 11kV Ring Main Units: approximately 50 Nos. (Most of these RMUs need to be linked with the proposed Distribution Control Centre under Package-D)

Package D: Establishment of A SCADA System including Construction of Distribution Control Centre

Design, supply, erection and commissioning of following electrical and electronic works in Colombo City.

* Installation of a SCADA/Distribution Automation System (SCADA/DAS) including complete hardware & software packages for SCADA/DAS and Distribution Management System (DMS) functionality, Control Centre (including building) and data communication systems (fibre optic, communication cables, power line carrier, radio systems, fixed wireless and mobile phone system. Etc) to the remote stations.

* Installation of Remote Terminal Units (RTUs) at Grid and Primary Substations, approximately 10 Nos.

* Installation of Remote Terminal Units (RTUs) at selected circuit breaker operated Distribution Substations, approximately 100 Nos.

* Installation of Remote Terminal Units (RTUs) at selected Ring Main Unit operated distribution substations, approximately 50 Nos.

* Installation of communication system for SCADA including communication facilities to link up with the Transmission System Control centre.

After the completion of the project the electricity consumers living in the Colombo city as well as Government institutions. Multi-national companies and other business enterprises who are directly involved with development of national economy will be benefitted.

As most of the medium voltage and low voltage switchgear and cables are presently in an overload condition and almost exceeded their lifetime, a reliable power supply cannot be provided.

Under the directions of the Project Director, a new Internet website had been developed for providing the updated information of the project. All the data relevant to the project can be obtained from this website www.cceddp.com.

A summary of the project activities is given in the Home Page of Website. As there are four distinct packages A,B,C and D the individual package has a dedicated webpage giving information of the particular package. The "contact us" webpage has the contact information of the officers and other staff attached to the project. It is also possible to obtain further information of the project activities by sending on e-mail to the relevant officers.