Norochcholai is crying for treatments again

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Norochcholai coal based thermal power plant of 300 MW has gone out of service from yesterday morning (Tuesday 29th January). Norocholai has been facing frequent interruptions in its operation, failing to ensure a continuous contribution to the national electricity system. Being a significant supplier of power, with a capacity of 300MW, absence of such power plant can instigate planned power cuts, due to lack of supply.

Norochcholai is not the only horizontal shaft driven thermal power plant in Sri Lanka. Kerawalapitiya and Kelanithissa combined cycle power plants with similar systems (other than there difference in generation of steam and minor differences in capacities) are at a considerable operational standard, questioning the quality of the coal power plant.

The reason for this outage is not yet declared and it may be too early to arrive at a conclusion. However, on a very rational basis, more than twelve outages (both planned and emergency) during one year of operation are not acceptable and cannot be justified for a thermal power plant.

Article By: Pasan Pethiyagoda
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Crown your company with energy efficiency _ National energy award

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Enhancing awareness and advancing technical expertise on energy conservation is a very important aspect in moving forward towards an energy conscious nation. This was a key requirement in establishing the Sri Lanka Sustainable Energy Authority (SLSEA) in October 2007, with the enacting of the Sri Lanka Sustainable Energy Authority Act No. 35 in 2007. Through this institutional authority, both the industrial sector and the general public are gaining many benefits regarding energy and its applications.

The Energy Management division of the SLSEA carries out its activities with a long term target of reducing 20% of energy consumed in the year 2010, by 2020. Programmes of a national scale are conducted to achieve this milestone. The activities of the Energy Management division have contributed to ‘Demand Side Management’, reducing the annual energy demand growth from 7% to 4%.
Loshan Palayangoda, Consultant-ISB Receiving the National Energy Efficiency Awards 2012 from Hon. Minister (Power & Energy) Patali Champika Ranawaka (source: http://isb.lk/news.html) 
Sri Lanka National Energy Efficiency Award (SLNEEA) is a part of driving Sri Lanka towards energy efficient life style following the mission of Demand Side management. This award programme is the premier national sustainable energy event of Sri Lanka, the Vidulka Exhibition, organized by the Energy Management division of SLSEA in collaboration with the Ministry of Power & Energy (MoPE).

Sri Lanka National Energy Efficiency Award scheme has three major components.

I.     National Energy Efficiency Award (NEEA)
II.    Best Energy Services Company (ESCO) Award
III.   Sri Lanka’s Leading Energy Personality Award

These awards are presented to honor the efforts and contribution of the industrial institutions and individuals in promoting energy conservation and renewable energy usage. The institutions that excel in these areas are recognized as examples for other industrial institutions to follow.

The winners are chosen by considering the projects that exhibit the highest annual savings in electricity and thermal energy, with the best return on investment (ROI), highest percent of energy savings and the most innovative energy-efficiency projects and renewable energy usage. Screening of submissions and the selections will be done by an evaluation committee and a review committee appointed by the SLSEA.

The long term objective of SLNEEA is to encourage all leading industry institutes to compete for this energy awards, and hence to optimize energy usage of the leading energy consumers of Sri Lanka, because demand side management would only be efficient only if the major energy consumers are controlled in their energy usage.  

The most highlighted issues in this award scheme are the lack of awareness in the Industrial sector about this award procedure. In addition, most of the institutions are not up to the required standards set by the SLSEA (especially in ESCO awards).

The following lines explain the aims and objectives of the award, and the opportunities and the procedure to apply for the scheme.


I. National Energy Efficiency Award (NEEA)

Sri Lanka National Energy Efficiency Award is given in order to provide national recognition to establishments for their energy efficiency improvement activities. This award scheme has a specialty as it recognizes energy management systems in organizations, without merely focusing on specific projects of the institution.

Awards showcase successful implementation of innovative, cost effective and transferable energy efficiency measures across a range of categories as large, medium and small, for the following sectors.

(a) Manufacturing
(b) Services
          -  Hotels
          -  Commercial buildings
          -  State sector office buildings
(c) Healthcare

But there are certain conditions to be fulfilled before applying for the award by an industrial institute. The main condition is that the entity must be located in Sri Lanka, for a minimum period of three years prior to the application date.



II. SRI LANKA NATIONAL BEST ENERGY SERVICES COMPANY (ESCO) AWARD

The National Best Energy Services Company (ESCO) Awards competition is the annual event Energy Services Companies to win recognition for their efforts in promoting energy conservation in Sri Lanka. The evaluation criteria have been formulated to comply with the underlying theme of the award scheme; "promote energy conservation in the country through high quality energy services".

BRONZE –
          2012
          Professional Met Consultancy Services (Pvt) Ltd

MERIT CERTIFICATES –
          2012
          Industrial Services Bureau

          2011
          Access Energy Solutions (Pvt) Ltd
          EnerFab (Pvt) Ltd

III. SRI LANKA’S LEADING ENERGY PERSONALITY AWARD

This award is presented in recognition of the individuals in Sri Lankan power and energy sector whose broad vision and efforts promote the use of innovative approaches related to energy.

It’s your turn now!!!
Contribution extended by the industrial sector by having a concern on this matter elevates the quality of sustainable development in the country, while ensuring energy saving. The energy consumers receive more value to their brand with such award, where as the energy supplier enjoys a relief in load due to energy saving measures. Therefore both the energy supply and the demand sides reach a win-win situation as a result of this award scheme. If your business is maintaining a high standard of energy efficiency, you too are a winner in this arena. 

Please follow these links and find the appropriate information. If you need further information, please contact the Sri Lanka Sustainable Energy Authority.

Application Procedure for Sri Lanka National Energy Efficiency Award:

www.energy.gov.lk/pdf/Application_Award_2013.pdf

Sri Lanka National Energy Efficiency Award 2013 Award for Excellence in Energy Conservation and Management – Guide Book:

www.energy.gov.lk/pdf/Guide_Book_2013.pdf


Article By: Isuru Kasthurirathne
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Norochcholai Coal Power Plant - In retrospect - Coal Vs Renewable

Friday, January 04, 2013


Why invest in a coal fired power plant when Sri Lanka is enriched with natural resources like sun, wind and water which could be used to produce electricity?

This would be a basic question that springs in the mind of a person when talking about Norochcholai coal power plant. So it would be a better starting point to launch this series of articles in which an overview of Norochcholai coal power plant would be presented to the readers.

Back to the original question, Why use coal which is a fossil fuel to produce electricity when renewable resources are available in this country in abundance. Let’s analyse this step by step.

First, what are the merits of renewables and demerits of coal which is the main base of the argument against coal plant project? The main point would be the environmental based concerns which involve the high amount of carbon and other air pollutants emitted from the coal power plant against the environmental friendliness of the renewable energy sources with zero emissions. Another strong point would be the production cost of electricity where the renewable energy is available absolutely free as Sri Lanka has sunshine, wind and hydro resources in abundance while for importing coal a cost has to be incurred as it is not available locally.

Both of the above points are definitely not misconceptions and they are valid arguments from a public perspective. But Electrical Engineers have a different point of view with regard to this issue. This point of view includes counter arguments for above points on the basis that coal power plant is not a permanent solution for power generation but an integral part in the stability and availability of the entire power system of the country for the foreseeable future.

An Electrical Engineer’s perspective on this issue could be discussed under two main arguments which are reliability of the power system of the country and the comparison of capital costs of the renewable generation vs. coal generation.

When reliability of a power system is considered thermal generation plays an important role. This statement could be clarified through an example. Imagine a country which generates electricity solely through hydro power without a single thermal plant. What would be the situation if the country is hit by a severe drought? Hydro resources would not be sufficient to produce electricity and power cuts would be imposed. What happens to the reliability of the system? The same situation could arise with other renewable resources also as natural phenomenon could affect the supply of those. So it is vital to have a steady source of electricity generation to preserve the reliability of the power system of a country. This is where thermal generation plays its part.

When Sri Lanka is considered in 2010, about 53% of total generation is from hydro and other renewable sources while only 47% is from thermal generation (For further details refer Sri Lanka Energy Balance 2010). It is a commendable portion of renewable energy based generation compared to other countries. But for the reliability of the system about the current portion of thermal generation needs to be preserved as discussed earlier in the face of ever rising demand of electricity. But thermal generation of country was primarily based on diesel, Naphtha and residual oil which were highly expensive energy sources. But coal was a relatively cheaper alternative to above fuels which was one of the main reasons to prompt for a coal power plant.

The second point is the capital costs of the renewable generation vs. coal generation as it plays a major role in justifying the need for the coal power plant. This point could be clarified graphically through figure presented below extracted from http://nuclearfissionary.com.


The green coloured portion of the above graph represents the capital costs of each source of generation in the current terms. As you can see coal has one of the lowest capital cost per kWh while renewables have highest capital costs. So this is another counter argument that can be brought up to justify the erection of the coal power plant.

In conclusion it must be said that coal power generation is not a fool proof and permanent solution to ever rising demand of electricity. In a sustainable perspective it is suitable to opt for renewable generation as much as possible for the betterment of the nature and our own but the above mentioned hurdles that sprung in the way has prompted us to prefer coal power over renewables. So let’s hope that a day will come where the capital costs and intermittency of renewable generation reach a minimal level which paves way to total renewable generation of electricity.

For further reading:


Article By: Asith Kaushalya
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Know your meter

Thursday, January 03, 2013


Not a stranger, but while treated most of the times even worse than a stranger, the billing officer is used to visit our places once a month. It’s most of the times antagonizing to see a substantial amount written on the bill, especially when we feel that we didn’t consume THAT MUCH !! But the problem is how we identify THAT MUCH quantity?

The small device the billing officer looking at, while pressing the buttons of his calculator and taking down notes, is colloquially known as the “Meter”. But ideally, it should be the Domestic Electrical Energy Meter. However, the electricity bill itself refers to this device as the “Meter” (Doubt me? Just have a glance at the electricity bill of the last month), authenticating the use of that simple singular word, instead of a complex tech jargon. Domestic Electrical Energy Meter is capable of measuring the total power consumed passed through it. The electrical supply to the house passes the meter, recording those quanta of power is consumed.

The theory behind the energy meter is what we learned in the secondary school. Power consumed by any electrical device is simply equal to the value of the voltage times the current. However, in a broader analysis, domestic electrical energy meter measures only the active power consumed by the equipment. The reactive power consumed is ignored in domestic measurements of power. But in industrial applications, demand meters are used to measure the maximum apparent power consumed, which is the vector sum of active and reactive powers.

Getting back to the domestic meter, the old fashioned meters have two coils, namely the voltage coil and the current coil, and a rotating disc. The interaction of flux generated by the two coils induces eddy currents on the disc. These eddy currents react with the magnetic flux and exert a rotating torque on the metallic disc. Now I know you doubt why this disk is not accelerating because of the torque, which should be the normal behavior. The disk is damped using a permanent magnet to deliver a reverse torque. This balances the torque and cause the meter to rotate in a constant speed, which is directly proportional to the electrical energy passed through. The spinning dials rotate accordingly to record the number of turns the disk is rotated, which is the indication for the consumption of power.

The digital energy meters replaced the demand to those mechanical meters, with sophisticated electronic components integrated into a smaller volume. Evolvements of meters in terms of technology is significant, and now we see smart meters which are capable of communicating with remote sources through GPRS or other similar telecommunication methods , to transfer energy data. All the meters imported are tested on a sample basis at the meter testing lab at Ja-Ela, owned by Lanka Electricity Company Limited.

Knowing all about meters will not help your pocket by any means, unless you understand the tariff structure. It is worth for any consumer to have an understanding about the tariff structure for the domestic customers.


The process of calculating the energy charge is simple. The meter reading depicts how many units the consumer has used.Domestic tariff is a block tariff and the table shows the tariff structure for a 30 day billing period. Billing period is the number of days from the previous billing date to the current billing date. The size of the block depends on the billing period. For example if the billing period is 32 days, the first block will be 0-32 kWh and the 5th block will be 129-192 kWh. Based on the interval to which the last unit is falling to, the fixed charge is decided. This prevent the customer from moving into a higher fixed charge, because of the delay of billing officers visit. Number of units used in each interval is multiplied by the respective energy charge and added together to form up the total energy charge. The fuel adjustment charge is a percentage of energy charge, calculated according to the table below. More details on this calculation process will be available in the next article on metering.


At a glance it is noted that both the fixed charge and the energy charge per kilo watt hour jumps up abruptly at the 90 unit margin. Therefore, if you are mindful to manage your consumption below 90 units, that will be at your advantage. Try the bill calculator in EnergyzEE blog, you will be able to calculate your own bill in a split second. Tricks to save the bill is yet to come with Energy zEE


Article By: Pasan Pethiyagoda
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Energyzee Cabled at Sierra

Wednesday, January 02, 2013


Conductor Selection is a task of major importance in design of electrical installations and distribution systems. In doing so, initially the designers have to determine whether to use Copper or Aluminum as the conductor material, depending on the design requirements and considering the availability of such conductors from the suppliers. After that, proper sizes of the conductors to be used are selected by considering the installation method, Insulation material, required current carrying capacity, required mechanical strength, Maximum operating temperature and the ambient temperature of the operating environment. Maintaining the voltages within the statutory limits is also a must and designers of electrical installations and distribution systems have to keep that in mind while selecting conductors.

Team Energyzee paid a visit to the factory premises of Sierra cables, with the intention of observing the manufacturing process. The production line from a row copper rope to a well finished cable is well explained during the process.

Sierra Cables PLC is one of the prominent pioneers in cable manufacturing industry in Sri Lanka. It is a subsidiary of Sierra Holdings (Private) Limited. The company is a leader in catering for the cable needs of Institutional organizations, construction companies and the Ceylon Electricity Board.

Sierra Cables was established in 1978 and later they acquired “Alucop cables” to serve as their manufacturing arm. In 2006 the Sierra Cables became a public company (PLC). In 2010 the “Alucop” name was left behind and today the company operates under the one name “Sierra Cables PLC”. ACSR (Aluminum Conductor Steel Reinforced) conductors, ABC (Aerial Bundled Cables), AAC (All Aluminum Conductor) and Copper cables, Antenna wires, Drop wires, Telecommunication Distribution cable, Low power flexible cords, Low power light flexible cords, Earth wire and  Motor vehicle general wiring cables are some of domestic and industrial cables that coming out from Sierra factory.

Most of those products are manufactured to the Sri Lankan Standard (SLS) but the ABC are manufactured according to the French Standard.
Sierra Cables manufacture power cables single core up to 1000 mm2, four core up to 300 mm2, Enameled winding wire from 0.1 mm to 4.00 mm and their total production capacity is more than 6000 MT per Year

Mr. Panditha | Managing Director
Sierra Cables PLC
During the brief interview we had with Mr. Panditha, (Managing Director of Sierra Cables PLC) mentioned that Sierra Cables considers upholding the quality of its products as the most important objective. As proof for this they have been awarded with the Engineering excellence 2011 award from IESL (Institution of Engineers Sri Lanka) and ISO 14000 quality standards recently. Sierra Cables also carries the “Surya Singha” designation for being a Sri Lankan company.

The ability of Sierra Cables to deliver large quantities of cables at short notice has won the appreciation among their customers.

IESL Engineering Excellence 2011
The company uses the qualitative material, high quality copper from Australia and Korea, enamel solution from France and Germany. Also their factory consists of latest cable manufacturing machinery from Germany, Australia, France and Taiwan.

Sierra Cables PLC is a fast growing dynamic company in the cable industry which has won not only the local market but also the foreign market with high quality products and it has already carved a good name among its customers. Mr.Panditha also mentioned that Sierra Cables is currently showing interest engaging in hydro power sector projects.


Article By: Bhashantha Munasinghe & Hansa Nanayakkara
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Star Rating of CFL in Sri Lanka

Tuesday, January 01, 2013



The Compact Florescent Lamps (CFL) are widely used in the world as well as in Sri Lanka for domestic, commercial and industrial lighting. They are considered as energy savers over the conventional incandescent lamps yet it is questionable whether CFLs produced by different manufacturers which has diverse market prices meet the same quality, output of light and energy saving. Therefore, choosing a cheap, energy efficient CFL which will emit required amount of light had been a tough task for the consumers.

The Star Rating of CFL is introduced and regulated by the government to avoid this complexity faced by the consumers in buying CFLs. The Star Rating basically eases the consumers compare CFLs from different manufacturers having different prices. Principally, more the number of stars better the product that you are buying. This article seizes on the important factors measured in obtaining the Star Rating, methodology of calculating the Star Rating and elaborates about the importance, regulations and the standards that are considered in awarding the Star Rating for CFLs.

The testing of CFL to award the Star Rating is carried out in the laboratory of Regional Centre for Lighting (RCL) which was managed by the Sri Lanka Sustainable Energy Authority. This is now under the process of been acquired to the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) which is also an affiliated institute of the Ministry of Power and Energy. Before concentrating on the sequence of the test, it is important to be familiar with simple jargon used. The phrase lumen output refers to the light emitted by the lamp in all directions. Efficacy is the proportion of total lumen output of the lamp to the total power input in watt. Integrating Sphere is an equipment used in the laboratory to test the lamp.

There are few aspects that are concerned before awarding the star rating. If these specifications are not met, the lamp will not be awarded with the certificate. The performance test carried out in the RCL is according to SLS 1231:2002.

They are,
  • The wattage of the lamp when tested should be less than 115% of its rated wattage.
  • The lumen output of the lamp when tested should be 90% of the rated lumen output.
  • The 3rd and 5th harmonic currents should not be greater than 86% and 61%
  • respectively of the fundamental current.
  • The power factor should be greater than 0.5
  • Standard Deviation of Colour Matching (STDCM) should be within the range 0 - 5.
Before testing the lamp in the integrating sphere, each CFL lamp is kept turned on for 100 hours continuously. This is called “ageing”. Aged lamp is fixed to the sphere in the same burning position as it was during ageing and kept turned on for 15 minutes before the test. Then the test begins. The lumen output, colour temperature and STDCM are directly calculated using the lab equipments (Integrating Sphere and the LabSphere software). The wattage, current harmonics and power factor are calculated by the power analyser.

    Using the above test results RCL awards the star rating according to the SLS 1225:2002 standard as follows.

Equation 1: Calculation of efficiency
Equation 2: Performance grading calculation
Table 1: Color correction coefficient
Table 2: Star rating
The lumen output, colour temperature, power factor and wattage are measured using the laboratory equipments as mentioned above. Efficacy is calculated according to the Equation 1 and colour correlation coefficient is obtained according to the Table 1 then by substituting the values to Equation 2 the Performance Grading is obtained. As per Table 2 the Star Rating is awarded.

    By analyzing the above criteria mentioned, it is noticeable that efficacy, colour temperature and power factor are vital facts of the Star Rating. This clearly indicates that higher the number of stars better the amount of light emitted for consumed wattages, better the power factor correction and better the colour of the light emitted (the quality of being near to the colour of daylight).  At least one star should be obtained for a CFL in order to be marketed in the local market.

Article By: Supun De Silva
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