Expect “Black July” in early March or April: CEB engineers’ Union

By Chaturanga Pradeep Samarawickrama   

Sri Lanka will experience the worst power cuts as early as March and April as the country has failed to secure sufficient coal stocks required for thermal power generation, Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) Engineers’ Union President Nihal Weerarathne said.  

He told  media that the water capacity remaining at the reservoirs was 75 percent by yesterday, for the generation of 896 Gwh of electricity.  

The required coal capacity for the Lakvijaya Power Plant was not provided. The fifth coal shipment is currently unloaded. A total of 38 coal shipments were to be received by the power plant for electricity generation. Now we have only four months left to bring the remaining coal ships. Only 24 shipments of 60,000 MT of coal would be unloaded in the remaining months until April of next year.  

Yesterday, the reservoirs’ remaining water capacity was 75%, generating 896 GWh of electricity.  

The hydropower generation capacity will not be sufficient as the rainfall was lower this year. To provide thermal power, however, Sri Lanka is struggling to secure the necessary stocks of coal. “We now predict that Black July will come earlier, in March or April, months ahead of the power cuts we predicted for July,” Weerarathne said.