OREANDA-NEWS. August 27, 2012. Colombo (reporter: Che Hongliang): “Chinese technical team and Ceylon Electricity Board are working together to address the technical problems of Puttalam coal-fired power plant in Sri Lanka," Sri Lanka Minister of Power and Energy Champika Ranawaka told Xinhua News Agency, reported the press-centre of CMEC.

In response to some media reports saying there were quality problems with the power plant, Ranawaka answered that the temporary plant breakdown was caused by malfunction and it was not a quality problem. The plant is still under commissioning, and given that this is Sri Lanka’s first coal-fired power plant and that it is located in a unique geographic environment, it’s understandable to encounter problems with technical details, said he. Ranawaka believed that these technical problems would be overcome in time with the joint efforts of the two parities.

Vice Chairman of the Ceylon Electricity Board Anura Wijepala told Xinhua that since its commissioning in March, 2011, Puttalam coal-fired power plant phase one project has made major contribution to Sri Lanka’s power industry, and its power generation accounts for 17% of the national power consumption.

Relying on oil-fired power generation, Sri Lanka has been suffering from high generation cost and domestic power supply shortage. Wijepala stated that Puttalam coal-fired power plant has greatly cut the power generation cost in Sri Lanka and become the backbone of local power grid. He was fully confident in continuous operation capacity of the plant, which was continuously running for five months since February.

Both Ranawaka and Wijepala acknowledged the Chinese party for their support to the power plant.

Contracted by China Machinery Engineering Corporation (CMEC), Puttalam coal-fired power plant sits 130km north of Colombo. Construction of the power plant was started in July, 2007. Phase I of the plant has an installed capacity of 300,000kW and Phase II has an installed capacity of 2 ? 300,000kW. The project will be complete by 2014. Sri Lanka authorities even had the image of the plant printed on the newly issued 100-rupee currency note to depict the significance of Puttalam power plant.