Power cuts hit biz community

by Sanjeevi Jayasuriya

Unannounced power interruptions in some parts of the country has affected the business community and they are uncertain of the future of their ventures as the cost of production has increased due to the use of alternate power sources.

As a remedial measure the government will give the business community a leg up by pledging to upgrade grid infrastructure. Overall, this will revamp the infrastructure and related administration in the Norochcholai power plant.

Deputy Minister Ajith Perera said this type of long blackouts would not happen again. “I have faith in the national grid. The ministerial committee appointed by President Maithripala Sirisena is looking for a solution and ways of preventing power failures in the future,” he said. The Cabinet has also approved the renovation work on the generators at the Victoria Power Station.

Industries, garments in particular, have to bear the additional cost of production as they had entered into forward contracts earlier this year. Export-oriented companies face a bigger problem of additional cost as they had agreed to supply stocks at a pre-agreed price. A garment industry veteran said the energy crisis is a problem not only for the garment industry, but also the entire industrial sector including the service sector as well.

Many industrialists declined to comment as they are not sure of the outcome as yet. However, all were of the view that it is a cause for concern and will take a ‘wait and see’ approach. .

Issuing a statement, CEO, Ceylon Chamber of Commerce (CCC) Mrs. Dhara Wijayatilake said, “The approach of the CCC is to await facts and details regarding the reasons for the power failure, since suggestions to address issues, need to be relevant to the cause that gave rise to the situation”.

The generators, which are over 30 years, should be immediately spruced up to maintain their current level of efficiency.

The renovation and replacement of a stator in the facility will also be given to a company picked by a Cabinet-appointed procurement committee.

Describing Norochcholai as a “differently-abled child”, Perera said technical issues with equipment continued to plague the plant but stressed that the Government would let “bygones be bygones” and “nurture the child to full growth”.

Serious defects in design were hampering the effective function of the three coal-powered generators he said, describing how the cooling systems of the generators were also powered by the same generator, so when it trips the cooling system also fails, resulting in serious damage.

“These points that should have been looked into at the design stage. Now it is too late. But we are still appreciative of the service that Norochcholai provides. We hope to set up a separate generator to power the functions of the coal power plant so that if any of the three generators malfunction, the system will still work.”

Implementation of a new control system is also to be fast-tracked under the new measures.

In fact, the continued power cuts on Thursday were a result of a second generator at Norochcholai failing as it was about to be reconnected to the national grid.

If two generators were functional by the end of the day, power would be restored countrywide, Perera said.

Responding to questions on accountability, the Deputy Minister said the Government’s focus remained on resolving the power crisis and added that an inquiry would be held eventually.

However, the military is likely to remain at the power stations as the Government continued to believe “there is a threat to the system”.

“Many of the service problems had been identified but were not addressed in time,” he said, referring to reports that engineers at the Biyagama substation had requested maintenance a year earlier.