Kelanitissa Dual Cycle Power Plant to be restored after being out of operation for over a year

By Ifham Nizam

The Kelanitissa Dual Cycle Power Plant, which was out of operations for more than a year due to technical faults, would be re-connected to the national grid on April 4, Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) Chairman Eng. Vijitha Herath said yesterday.

Herath told a media briefing at the CEB Headquarters in Colombo, the Dual Power Plant was currently undergoing restoration and was in the testing phase.

The power plant, which is fully owned by the CEB, commenced generating electricity in 2003 and has a capacity of 165 MW.

The CEB Chief said that out of that entire capacity 110 MW was generated by gas turbines and the remaining 55 MW by steam. After a repair of the steam turbine on July 19, 2019, it was reconnected to the national grid on October 12, 2019.

“But again, there was a breakdown in the gas turbine. Accordingly, since the repair work is mainly done by the Turbine Supply Company, this turbine has been referred to the relevant company for the repair,” he added.

The company has not agreed to repair the turbine and has said that new parts will have to be installed. Accordingly, with the approval of the Procurement Committee of the Ministry of Power, Quartzs Electric?  has been sent to Dubai to repair the machinery.

The repair cost of the gas turbine is USD 1.27 million, USD 850,000 for the repair of the steam turbine and USD 75,000 for the reassembly and installation of these machines. Although the company had announced the completion of the repairs on June 20, 2020, it had completed it by July 13 due to the Corona epidemic.

The turbine was returned on 20.02.2020 due to delays in the transport of machinery to Chennai, India, for the remaining work.

The CEB Chairman also said that the Kelanitissa Dual Cycle Power Plant, is currently under investigation by a committee comprising Professor B. Wijeratne, Leelananda Rajapaksa, Leelananda Samaranayake and CEB Vice Chairman Nalinda Illangakoon.