Norochcholai is crying for treatments again

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

Posted in: Power System