The Ceylon Electricity Board’s (CEB) cost of buying power from private power stations is falling, according to CEB chairman Arjun Deraniyagala.
He said that the first private plant in Sri Lanka was expensive, providing power at US 6.8 cents per kWh. Subsequent private plants provided power at 5.5 cents. CEB has bought a 60 MWe barge-mounted power plant from Mitsui Engineering and Shipbuilding, and Kawasho, which will supply electricity at 5.32 cents per kWh.
He also said that the CEB plans to shut down the Norton hydro reservoir for desilting this year. He also added that the wet blanketing exercise undertaken at Samanalawewa had been carried out successfully, although it had not been able to plug the leak completely. “We achieved a reasonable amount of success,” he said. “Our biggest satisfaction is that we have demonstrated that there is no possibility of structural failure when the reservoir is full.”
