Substandard Coal Forced Costly Shift to Diesel Power

COLOMBO (News 1st); Electricity capacity lost at the Norochcholai Coal Power Plant due to substandard coal supplies was primarily compensated through the Kerawalapitiya Sobadhanavi Power Plant, the Presidential Commission of Inquiry into Coal Transactions heard.The Sobadhanavi Power Plant, owned by Lakdhanavi Limited, is a subsidiary of Lanka Transformers Limited.Meanwhile, the Commission also heard that the importation of substandard coal resulted in additional costs exceeding Rs. 4.5 billion within a period of just four months.The revelations emerged during testimony given yesterday by the Director of the National System Control Centre before the Presidential Commission investigating coal transactions.Evidence presented before the Commission indicated that the Norochcholai Power Plant had been unable to fully meet the electricity capacity required by the national grid, necessitating the procurement of power from alternative generating facilities.Accordingly, the bulk of the resulting electricity shortfall was supplied by the Kerawalapitiya Sobadhanavi Power Plant during the relevant period.Although the Sobadhanavi plant was designed to operate using Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), it is currently being operated using diesel fuel.The Commission also heard that the payment mechanism adopted for the importation of the disputed coal consignments has raised serious concerns.According to evidence presented, payments were made based on laboratory reports issued at the port of loading, before the quality of the coal had been independently verified in Sri Lanka.Professor Saliya Jayasekara, Chairman of Lanka Electricity Generation (Private) Limited, told the Commission that 80 percent of the payment due to the supplier had been released based on laboratory reports obtained at the port of loading.It was further revealed that only the remaining 20 percent of the payment was linked to laboratory reports obtained after the coal arrived in Sri Lanka.The inquiry also heard that significant discrepancies exist between laboratory reports issued at the port of loading and those obtained after testing the coal in Sri Lanka.Samples from the disputed coal consignments were also sent to Bureau Veritas, the international quality inspection and certification agency, and the Commission was informed that the relevant reports have now been received.According to evidence presented before the Commission, the coal quality findings contained in those reports most closely matched the laboratory test results obtained by the Norochcholai Power Plant itself.