Another 100 mw to be added to Kerawalapitiya power plant
Athapattu BANDARA and Ridma DISSANAYAKE
The Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) yesterday announced that power
generation capacity of Kerawalapitiya Yugandanavi power plant which was
disrupted due to a technical fault, has been restored at 200 MW and
another 100 MW will be added on July 30.
Power and Energy Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka made an inspection
tour of the Muthurajawela Power Station and held discussions with
administration and technical officers regarding the technical fault.
The minister pointed out that since the power plant had continuously
functioned round the clock during the last five months it was a big
boost to the national power grid. He urged the officials not to be
deceived by the falsehoods spread by certain parties and work towards
the progress of the power station. He further sated that CEB incurred a
loss of Rs. 200 million per day as 85 per cent of the power generation
is by thermal power.
He said that steps are being taken to operate the Yugadanavi power
plant from liquid gas (LND) by 2014 and some other power stations will
also be transformed as LND power plants in the future, he said.
The restoration of the remaining capacity will be completed by local
engineers of the CEB and the power capacity will be restored completely,
he said.
Power plant chief operation Officer M. J. M. N. Marikkar said the
news that power plant was not functioning due to scarcity of fuel was
baseless and it has no any truth. The cause for the breakdown at the
Lakvijaya Coal Power Plant in Norochcholai has been identified as a
five-inch tear in one of thousands of tubes in the boiler economizer.
Three teams comprising local technicians and engineers were assigned
to study the situation and find a solution to the breakdown. They had
discovered the five-inch tear in one of tubes in the boiler economizer,
causing water carried through the tubes to leak. Meanwhile, world fuel
and crude oil prices increased again from the beginning of this month,
the Petroleum Industries Ministry said yesterday.
According to ministry sources, the price of a barrel of Iranian lite
crude oil increased by US $ 10 and the prices of several petroleum
products such as diesel, petrol and kerosene oil increased by US $ 16
during the last three weeks.
The price of a barrel of Brent crude oil increased by US $ 9 and
simultaneously the price of a barrel of Iranian crude oil and WTI crude
oil increased by US $ 7 during the same period. Accordingly, a barrel of
Brent crude oil increased to US $ 108.58 from US $ 96.38 and the price
of a WTI crude oil barrel increased to US $ 92.66 from US$ 83.99.
|