Generator Unit 1 at the Lakvijaya Power Plant in Norochcholai remains offline following the countrywide blackout on 17 October, and power sector experts have urged caution over the government’s rejection of claims that coal quality played a part.
Cabinet Spokesperson Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa dismissed Opposition claims that substandard coal contributed to the incident. “There is no link between the coal quality and this incident,” he said in reply to journalists.
Dr. Jayatissa said Unit 1 had undergone maintenance for 62 days, from 30 July to 30 September, and that coal from a new shipment had been used for power generation since 4 September. He said he hoped the plant would return to normal operation the following day, in line with assurances from the authorities.
Experts said statements on the cause of a major generating-unit failure should be made cautiously, particularly when it has been linked to a nationwide blackout. They said the use of coal from a new shipment does not by itself show whether the fuel met the required specifications or whether it played any role. Coal quality, the condition of the generating equipment and the performance of associated electrical systems are separate technical questions, they said.
The experts noted that no detailed technical findings had been cited to support the categorical rejection of the coal-quality allegations. The precise cause of the Unit 1 failure cannot be established from the information released so far, they said.
Asked about the financial losses caused by the blackout, Dr. Jayatissa said the Opposition was calculating the cost and would announce its figures next week. “Our job is to restore the system,” he said.
Background
The Lakvijaya Power Plant at Norochcholai in the Puttalam District is Sri Lanka’s only coal-fired power station and is operated by the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB). It has three generating units, each of 300 megawatts, which makes it one of the largest sources of baseload electricity on the national grid.
Baseload plants run continuously to meet the minimum level of demand, so the loss of one unit reduces the reserve available to the system.
After the 17 October outage the Opposition claimed that substandard coal contributed to the failure, while the government says there is no connection.
What it means
For households, a prolonged outage at a major unit can mean a less stable supply if demand rises. For businesses, an unexpected interruption can disrupt production, damage time-sensitive goods, interrupt services and raise costs where backup generation is needed. Small and medium-sized enterprises, which may have less capacity to absorb extra expenses, can be affected most, experts said.
The experts said a clear, evidence-based account of what happened on 17 October would help show whether the failure came from equipment malfunction, an operational issue, a wider system disturbance or a combination of these. That account would include the sequence of technical events and the measures needed to prevent a repeat.
