Evaluating the public perception on domestic electricity tariff structure | Survey

Go to survey (English version) Go to survey (Sinhala version) 1. Purpose of the Survey The EESoc panel discussion was initiated with the purpose of serving the power sector with an unbiased and a fruitful discussion regarding a timely issue. Considering the prime importance prevailing in the national power sector, the theme for the year 2013 is suggested as “Towards a rational consumer tariff”. The panel will provide suggestions on how Sri Lanka can move into a more rational tariff structure. As we believe, the suggestion would definitely be a technically sound and feasible one considering all the engineering and economic aspects in the field. This survey is proposed with intention of integrating social aspects to this proposal to...

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Posted in: Utility and Social

Introduction to Wind Power Plant technologies in the world

Renewable energy is the main concern of the global energy sector to face the energy crisis occurred with the depletion of fossil fuel. Wind energy is one of the prominent renewable sources of energy currently used globally. Following the global trend, Sri Lanka too has wind power plants connected to the national grid that consist of three main types of generators which are variable speed synchronous wind generators, doubly-fed induction wind generators and fixed speed asynchronous wind generators (FSAWD). This article talks about the main construction modes of each type of wind power plant available globally. Fixed speed asynchronous wind generator These types of generators are operated with less than 1% variation of rotor speed, which...

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Posted in: Sustainable Energy and Policy

Zero Energy Building Concept _ Lighting

As described in the previous article, improving the energy performance of a building can be considered as an important part of the country’s sustainable energy development process. In energy efficient building designs, the particular commercial, industrial buildings or the large scale housing schemes attend to their needs in the aspects of design, construction and maintenance under minimal consumption of energy without compromising either the functions of the building or the comfort as well as health of the occupants. While looking for an energy efficient building, some particular areas can be identified which one should consider on. They are as follows,. Lighting Ventilation and air conditioning Building envelop On-site power...

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Posted in: Sustainable Energy and Policy

LECO introduces surge protection equipment

A stream of silver lines descending from heavens, lightening surely is impressive to behold. Charming and intriguing as it is, lightening can be lethal too. It has destroyed many a human life and caused quite a lot of damage to electrical equipment as well. Statistics reveal that the occurrence of lightning has aggravated recently, due to various environmental changes all over the world. Worthiness of classifying lightning strikes Why does lightening cause so much of damage is worth studying. Actually this cause of damage is due to two different strokes, based on the way of entry of lightning into the building. These strokes are basically known as direct strokes and indirect strokes. Direct lightning happen due to interception of...

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Posted in: Electrical Industry

Battle of the Current - Paving the way of battle

Electricity is the key to make us masters of our environment, and most of us take it as a crucial part of our lives. But 150 years ago this was not the case. In the middle of the 19th century labor took place at only sun lit day time, and work itself was manual in slow motion without the aid of machinery. At night people stayed at home to avoid associated risks at night. Over the next century and half we transformed the environment dominated us to an environment dominated by us. Today we experience an electrified environment that responds to our many needs, with power that was transmitted through hundreds of miles in an interconnected transmission grid. Emerging concept of electricity In 600BC Greeks first discovered the static electricity...

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Posted in: Utility and Social

Importance of Sampur Coal Power Plant

Learn from past “Power-cuts will be imposed from end of this month as hydro-power generation has been hit by a prolonged drought”. Walking back in our memory lane to 1994 era, this is a common heading in most of the newspapers. If I take you to the power generation situation in Sri Lanka exactly 10 years back, year 1994, 95% of total generation was made out of hydro-power whereas only the rest was made out of thermal power. (More info: http://energyzee.blogspot.com/2013/04/norochcholai-coal-power-plant-in.html) According to this circumstance, hydro power generation alone was not enough to accommodate the electricity demand during the severe drought period. Therefore, to overcome the impending power shortages,...

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Posted in: Power System

From an engineering trainee’s diary _Transmission line planning

The following article is based on my experience as a trainee electrical engineering undergraduate in “Lighting Sri Lanka-Hambanthota Project (LSHP)” under Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB). Transmission and distribution lines are the live veins of a country’s power system. They simply interconnect generating stations, grid substations and distribution substations. In Sri Lankan context, we have generation voltages around 13.5 kV, transmission voltages of 132 kV and 220 kV and distribution voltages of 33 kV (CEB) and 11 kV (LECO and small portion of CEB). The ultimate objective of a power system utility such as CEB is to keep the above mentioned “live veins” as healthy as possible while keeping the generation cost and other operating costs...

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Posted in: Power System

Adapting to the Sri Lankan load profile _ Importance in understanding load profile

Battle between drought and electricity demand “Switch off a light and save for future”. This is not a strange slogan for Sri Lankans as it was regularly being broadcasted through various media channels within the last few months. In recent times, ceylon Electricity Board has been experiencing in a crucial crisis due to the inability to satisfy electricity demand in the country, which adversely impacted on the generation plan and financial estimations. Main reason for this was unexpected drought prevailed. Water levels of all the reservoirs were low and hydro generation was strictly scheduled for a limited time period. Countries such as Sri Lanka have to inevitably face numerous problems under such weather condition, since generation from...

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Posted in: Utility and Social

Zero Energy Building Concept

Action towards energy saving In this fast moving competitive world, “energy” plays a major role due to the limitation of availability and the cost of utilization. As people try to grab the maximum portion of energy available, no doubt that the globe will further suffer from this energy crisis. Before the problem goes worse, it’s better to take necessary and prompt actions to at least mitigate the energy crisis. In most of the countries throughout the world, buildings are responsible for more than 40% of energy use. As it is very much important to reduce the energy usage and conserve energy, it’s better to pay attention towards the concept of zero energy building. Although zero energy building concept is not a novel idea, implementation...

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Posted in: Sustainable Energy and Policy

Norochcholai Coal Power Plant - In retrospect - Treading the wrong path

I believe we have reached the conclusion that coal power was a more suitable option in electricity generation for Sri Lanka through the previous article which discussed the fact comprehensively. This particular article follows it up with the discussion of initial groundwork of the Norochcholai coal power plant and irreparable mistakes occurred along the way. The sole intention is to narrate the history of the power plant, explaining the episodes as they were, preventing any political influence. The necessity of a coal power plant Let me take you to the power generation situation in Sri Lanka exactly 10 years back, year 1993, and compare it with the situation in year 2010. (Source: Sri Lanka Energy Balance 2010) It is evident that...

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Posted in: Power System

Light the Lights - Comparing options for domestic lighting

There is a diverse range of lighting fixtures and lamps available in the domestic market where each lamp has its own advantages and disadvantages. The diagram below shows some of the basic lighting technologies which are popular in the local market for savvy. But this article mainly focuses on domestic lamps, their advantages and disadvantages and how they can be utilized optimally to serve your requirements. Basic Lighting Technologies Terminology Incandescent Lamps Incandescent Lamp The incandescent lamp is a very commonly used lamp type in household applications. If stated in simple terms, the basic operating mechanism of an incandescent lamp is passing of an electric current through a tungsten spiral which heats up...

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Posted in: Sustainable Energy and Policy

Dr. Tilak Siyambalapitiya speaks - Generation situation and economics of Sri Lankan power sector

“When we talk about power generation situation, we have to consider three issues namely; adequacy of generation, cost of generation and the generation mix” said Dr. Tilak Siyambalapitiya, senior energy consultant, during an interview with EnergyzEE team. Dr. Thilak Siyambalapitiya Dr. Siyambalapitiya graduated from University of Moratuwa, and earned his PhD from the University of Cambridge. He carries 30 years of experience in the energy sector of Sri Lanka, as well as in the region. He has worked in Ceylon Electricity Board, and in Saudi Arabia, on power sector planning and policy. He is a Chartered Engineer, and a Past President of Sri Lanka Energy Managers Association. He is currently an international energy consultant, working with...

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Posted in: Utility and Social