CEB indecision

Three Independent Power Producers which have fulfilled their contractual agreements with the CEB have been waiting for six months to know their fate. Are they further needed or not? A decision the CEB has put off for months which might cost the country dear. Their prices are competitive having paid off all overheads, loan servicing, etc. Though some have completed 20-year operations, the power stations are in excellent condition. This is due to stringent maintenance schedules followed by the operating companies. With new prices offered as low as 20 unit, no other thermal electricity supplier can match it. Their use as balancing/regulating the grid is invaluable. They can be easily converted to LNG or any other environmental-friendly fuel by replacing only the engines. So, it would be a wasteful exercise to ask them to scrap the power station, at this juncture, where Sri Lanka is still struggling to meet the demand due to blunders committed by the yahapalana government. Thankfully, the present government is fast forwarding all the power supply projects but still it will take a few years to catch up.

These IPPs will come in handy in the crucial years of this gap.

Let’s hope good sense will prevail and the government will not let this opportunity of cheap power slip by.

Various Cabinet meetings have come about regarding this with, but there has been no decision.

Maybe the rains are helping the government. But that’s something you cannot depend on.

It looks as if the CEB wanted these plants scrapped. For once, we’ve got a Minister of Power capable of rational thinking. Hope he will be able to wade through the political and business quagmire to reach decisions that are economically sound and good for the country. Over to you minister!

Concerned Citizen