Cabinet nod to purchase 400MWs of emergency power

By Sandun A. Jayasekera 

Cabinet approval has been granted to the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) for the purchase of 400 megawatts of power at Rs.24.80 per unit from two barge-mounted power plants anchored at Dikkowita and Galle. 

Both diesel-powered plants supplied by Turkish firm ‘KarPower International DMCC’ will generate 200MWs of power each and connect to the national grid starting from this month. 

The Cabinet paper submitted by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe last Tuesday said it was necessary to purchase 400MWs of power from the Turkish company as the Cabinet sub-committee chaired by him to review the power crisis and make short, middle and long term solutions had recommended the purchase of power from the two barge-mounted power plants in a bid to prevent a possible power outage during an emergency. 

The barge-mounted power plant anchored in Galle will start connecting 200MWs of power to the national grid for six months from this month and the Kerawalapitiya plant from September for nine months. 

When Power and Energy Minister Ravi Karunanayake submitted a Cabinet paper for the same purpose, several ministers protested saying emergency power purchases were not an immediate necessity as the rainy season had commenced and that power supply could be managed with the available capacity. 

The Cabinet sub-committee comprised the ministers of finance, power and energy, highways and road development and petroleum resources development, ports, shipping and southern development. 

Meanwhile, Minister Karunanayake told Daily Mirror that a power cut was inevitable if the CEB failed to supply the demand and that the available capacity was insufficient to meet the demand. 

“What is most important is that we purchase power from these two barge-mounted plants for the lowest possible rate and all local suppliers charge a higher rate for a unit of power when the CEB purchases power from local suppliers,”  he said. 

Both diesel-powered plants supplied by Turkish firm ‘KarPower International DMCC’ will generate 200MWs of power each and connect to the national grid starting from this month