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