CEB's costly gas power generation fuels criticism
The Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) operated a pair of expensive gas turbines throughout January, generating 8.8 gigawatts at approximately Rs 62 per unit despite having sufficient water to generate hydropower.
A unit of electricity generated from hydro sources is, in comparison, around Rs 4 while diesel-powered plants yield a unit at between Rs 22 and 26. Coal costs around Rs 14 to generate while solar bids place their price at Rs 15-16 per unit.
There are six gas turbines installed at the CEB’s Kelanitissa premises bought in the 1980s and 90s. Two are out of service and another two are under repair. The remaining pair were used because the CEB were unsure of weather patterns ( if the rains would come as anticipated) and wanted to preserve available water, said Susantha Perera, Additional General Manager (Transmission).
One unit of the Lakvijaya coal power was shut down in January 2020 for maintenance and did not come back online till February. Another gas turbine (Fiat GT7) was also out along with the combined cycle plant. “These were the only thermal options we had,” Dr Perera said, defending the debt-ridden utility’s decision to use the gas turbines.
He admitted that they are expensive to operate, “costing anything beyond Rs 50, just for fuel”. But the management decided to run the machines to maintain water levels as there were no inflows at that time. It did subsequently rain, however. And demand also dropped drastically since March when curfews were introduced in view of the COVID19 pandemic.
“We are not operating most of the thermal plants now, and were able to manage,” Dr Perera said. “But it will be a different story when the country restarts and picks up.”
Energy sector experts criticised the use of the gas turbines in January, with one of them saying, “It is like taking your Ferrari to the grocery store to buy sugar.”
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This type of turbines are only used for “peaking power demands”, he said, not as baseload power plants.
“This is because of the very high costs,” he explained. “They require special fuel while the cost of equipment is also steep. The per unit generation is Rs 60 plus. You can generate energy far cheaper than that.”
Meanwhile, the CEB has also not procured the emergency power it planned to buy from April this year to the next. While all necessary approvals have been obtained, the contracts have not been signed. They will be looked at if demand picks up to levels the CEB cannot meet. However, the monsoons are expected at the end of May and will boost hydropower potential again. Experts also criticised the absence of a plan which means that Sri Lanka will have to meet next year’s power shortfalls with emergency generation.