Nation's misfortune, CEB's fortune!
Ceylon Finance Today: While almost Sri Lanka in its entirety was debilitated by floods wreaking havoc following excessive torrential rains, there has been only one beneficiary, which is the Ceylon Electricity Board!
"There has been excessive rain which has helped us to generate additional power in the form of hydropower, which accounted for over 80% of the total power generation, Ceylon Electricity Board's Additional General Manager (Power Generation) M.C. Wickremasekera told Ceylon FT yesterday.
He said that a number of reservoirs had been full, some were spilling, some were near spill level and that the CEB had been generating hydro power in additional quantities, at least up to 80% of the total requirement.
Meanwhile, CEB's Deputy General Manager ( Systems Control) H.D.S. Themothias told Ceylon FT that the total hydro power generation has been 20 Gega Watt Hours ( GWh) of the 25 GWh, which has been generated on Saturday (27 Dec.) and 18 GWh of Hydro power out of the 23 GWh, which has been generated on Sunday. He also said that the Mahaweli reservoirs — Kotmale, Victoria, and Randenigala were spilling, while Castlereigh and Mousekkelle were at top level. Laxapana, Canyon and Norton Bridge which were named as regular ponds were also spilling.
One of the further advantages of the inclement weather was the reduced demand and usage of air conditioning and fans, which, he said, was a saving for the CEB.
He also said that the composition of the power generation these days was 80% hydro power, and thermal which accounted for 15% where 14% was coal and only 1% was oil powered. The rest is wind power.
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