First stage to be completed this month:

Electricity for all by 2012

by Shirajiv SIRIMANE and Nihal ABEYSINGHE

The Ceylon Electricity Board, is the livewire that connects the power sector in the country. It was founded in 1927 as the Department of Government Electrical Undertakings.

Hydro electric power came into use in 1951 with the commissioning of the Lakshapana project in the Central province. The demand for power increased from approximately 20 megawatts in 1951 to nearly 73 megawatts in 1963, about 90 percent of which was met from hydroelectricity sources.

The United States and British-owned oil companies in Sri Lanka were nationalised in 1963, and since then the importing, refining, and distributing of all petroleum products has been the responsibility of the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation.

In the 1970s, the island began to rely increasingly on imported oil for the generation of electricity, but the new hydroelectric capacity generated by the Mahaweli project in the 1980s reduced the importance of oil.

In 1986 the total installed capacity was 1,010 megawatts, of which 74 percent was from hydropower.

In early 1988, it appeared that the Mahaweli project would solve Sri Lanka's electricity problem in the foreseeable future.

Officials inspecting the progress

Work in progress

This integrated power generation and irrigation project started contributing to the National Grid in 1984 when the first two phases of the Victoria Dam were completed, adding 140 megawatts to the installed power capacity.

In April 1985, the final stage of the Victoria Dam increased the power generation capacity by 70 megawatts. A slightly greater capacity was expected in the late 1980s. Most of the power generation projects in Sri Lanka were planned, funded and executed with foreign technical expertise and assistance. However the Kerawalapitiya Power Plant is an exception as it is Sri Lanka's first 100 percent 'Made in Sri Lanka' major power plant project.

The project aims to construct a 270 MW Thermal Power Plant to boost the supply of electricity in order to meet the growing demand in the short term. The total investment for the project will be Rs. 34,267 Million.

The Construction of a 300 MW combined cycle power plant at a cost of Rs. 71,000 Million too is under way.

The first stage of the project which would add 200 megawatts to the national grid would be opened within a few weeks. It would be managed by Yugadanavi Company as an associate of the CEB. In addition to this, the other four major power projects are being implemented simultaneously and some of them are already operational. The controversial 150 MW Upper Kotmale hydro power project at a cost of Rs. 38,219 million is nearing completion. This project did not get off the ground for over two decades as there was no National leader to convince the environmentalists as well the residents of the area of the benefits accruing to them and re plan the project.

The Norochcholai Coal power project with a capacity of 1200 MW is being constructed at an estimated cost of Rs. 51,550 million with Chinese funds. The second Coal Power Project planing for Trincomalee will be implemented at an estimated cost of Rs 60,000 million to generate 500 MW electricity.

In addition, all transmission towers are being upgraded and modernized while a sum of Rs 17,700 million is being spent for rural electrification scheme to provide electricity for all in 2012.

The old Lakshapana and Ukuwela hydro power projects with the capacity of 215 MW have been reconstructed. Accordingly the power capacity which was 2400 GW in 2005 has been increased to 2690 GW in 2009. The number of electricity consumers has been increased to 4.33 million in 2009 from 3.90 million in 2005. The percentage of number of house-holders with power supply has increased to 84 % in 2009 from 76.7 percent in 2005. A total of 7600 electricity development projects have been implemented under various programs such as Gama Neguma, Maga Neguma Neganahira Udanaya and Rajarata Navodaya.

With the aim of providing electricity for all by 2012, the government has invested a total of Rs. 90,887 million in the power sector.

It may be interesting to note that the present focused development on the power sector has outstripped all previous power projects in value, man power and most importantly power generation capacity.

Work done in the power sector in the past 60 years have been overtaken by the development achieved in the past four years which clearly indicates the focus and commitment of the government to this sector. The total power generation since President Mahinda Rajapaksa took over was around 1000 megawatts and with the current power projects expected to be completed in the next two years, Sri Lanka would have over 2,600 mw of power which will sometimes enable it to export the surplus. This a dream even the father of Sri Lanka is power generation, G.W. Wimalasurendra would never have dreamt of such a situation which most of the other Asian countries would envy.