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

Posted in: