Threat of power crisis looming large – engineer

By Rathindra Kuruwita

Senior officials in the CEB and Ministry of Power were trying to sabotage investigations into the countrywide power outage earlier this month, Senior Engineers Association Spokesman, Eng. Nandika Pathirage said.

Eng. Pathirage, himself a former President of the powerful CEB Engineers’ Union claimed those officials had even been attempting to discourage investigators from proceeding with the probe.

He said that Sri Lanka was on the verge of a power crisis. “We don’t build power plants. In a few months, we will have to purchase emergency power,” Pathirage said.

During the past few months, hydro power plants had been operating at full capacity due to heavy rains. The rains had now stopped, he said.

“The coming months will be dry. It is a good time to generate solar power. However, we have done nothing to expand our solar power infrastructure. In fact, the CEB has thwarted attempts by various governments to boost solar infrastructure,” he said.

Eng. Pathirage said there were enough experts in Sri Lanka who could build renewable energy infrastructure. If wind and solar power infrastructure was built up Sri Lanka could save a lot of foreign currency too, he said.

“There is no need to attract large foreign investors. We can manage with local expertise and we can save a lot of foreign exchange” he said.

The Secretary to the Ministry of Power was not immediately available for comment.