Features

Will CEB make an effort to comply?

Published

6 years ago

2020/11/2

Sahan Weerasooriya

President’s target on renewable energy share in power generation:

by Dr Janaka Ratnasiri

IMPLEMENTING THE NEW POLICY DIRECTIVE OF PRESIDENT

As described in detail by the writer in an article published in The Island of 25 and 26 September, a press release issued by the President’s Media Division on 14.09.2020 said that the President had directed that plans should be made to generate 70% of the country’s overall electricity requirements from renewable energy (RE) sources by 2030. Apparently, this has been decided at a meeting that President had with the State Ministry of Solar, Wind and Hydro Power Generation Projects Development and the Power Minister at the Presidential Secretariat on the 14th September. The Press Release also said that The Government has made the promotion of renewable energy a top priority and President advised the Secretary to the President to issue a gazette calling for all the institutes to assist in this endeavor. See http://www.pmdnews.lk/70-of-electricity-demand-will-be-generated-using-renewable-energy-by-2030/.

However, as required by Section 5 of the Sri Lanka Electricity Act, No. 20 of 2009, to give effect to this policy decision, it has to be referred to the Cabinet to get its approval and incorporate it in the General Policy Guidelines in respect of the Electricity Industry. Thereafter, the PUCSL will be able to direct the CEB to comply with the new policy guidelines. Being a matter concerning RE share in power generation, the relevant cabinet paper will have to be presented to the Cabinet by the Power Minister. The general practice is for the Secretary to the Ministry to draft the paper in concurrence with the Minister. The question is how long the Power Ministry will take to attend to this.

CEB’S LONG-TERM GENERATION EXPANSION PLAN

According to the Sri Lanka Electricity (Amendment) Act No. 31 of 2013, any capacity addition to the country’s power system requires that the new plant shall comply with the provisions in the CEB’s Long-term Generation Expansion (LTGE) as well as the approval of the PUCSL and the Cabinet. The LTGE Plan for 2020-2039 prepared by the CEB in May 2019, when submitted to the PUCSL for approval, PUCSL returned it saying that it did not confirm to the Policy Guidelines of the Ministry on Electricity Industry as decided by the Cabinet in March 2019 which had specified a target of 50% as share of renewable energy (RE) sources to be achieved by 2030 and also saying that it did not include the externality costs.

In response, the CEB has revised its LTGE Plan and resubmitted it to the PUCSL in March 2020. (See https://www.pucsl.gov.lk/lcltgep-2020-2039/). However, the revised plan too has a RE share of only 35% as in the original draft and it has not been adjusted to achieve a target of 50% of RE by 2030, though requested by the PUCSL. By its letter dated 28.05.2020, the PUCSL has reiterated that the CEB Plan be revised to achieve the requisite target of 50% of RE share by 2030. However, with the President giving specific directions recently to generate 70% of electricity from renewable sources by 2030, there is an urgent need for the Policy Guideline document to be amended through a Cabinet decision to give effect to the President’s new directive. The CEB will then have to revise its LTGE Plan to comply with this policy.

BUILDING THE FIRST GAS POWER PLANT IN SRI LANKA

The Chairman of the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) was reported in the weekly Sunday Morning of 18 October 2020 as having said that the power purchase agreement (PPA) for the 300 MW combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) power plant to be built at Kerawalapitiya selected after calling for tenders in 2016 would be signed once the Cabinet approval is received for it. (http://www.themorning.lk/300-mw-kerawalapitiya-lng-plant-ceb-awaits-cabinet-nod/). Though the CEB Chairman has said that approval of the Cabinet has been sought for the PPA to be entered into with the supplier of the CCGT power plant, according to the Sri Lanka Electricity Act No. 31 of 2013, once the project is approved by the Cabinet, the PPA needs the approval of the PUCSL only.

It may be noted that the CEB invited proposals through a 500-page Requests for Proposals (RFP) for this power plant in November 2016. However, the decision on the award of the tender took more than 3 years for reasons described in detail by the writer in several of his previous articles published in the Island including the one that appeared on 19.08.2019. The writer pointed out that the CEB should be held responsible for delaying this project.

The writer understands that the award of the tender to the local tenderer, Lakdhanavi Ltd, who had submitted the lowest tender was approved by the Cabinet last December. Further, soon after President Gotabaya Rajapaksa assumed office, he has instructed the award be made to this tenderer. It is therefore surprising that the CEB is seeking the approval of the Cabinet again for the project and in addition is seeking the approval of the AG’s Department for the PPA, which are not necessary according to the provisions in the Electricity Act.

According to a report appearing in the Sunday Times of 25.10.2020, the matter has run into a controversy as the AG’s Dept. has not granted its approval for the PPA. Apparently, some changes have been proposed by the tenderer whereas the RFP has not made provisions to make such changes after the bids are closed. Nevertheless, the CEB as well as the Ministry are in agreement to the changes and want to proceed with the signing of the PPA.

The report says that the Minister will submit a Cabinet Paper seeking its approval to authorize the CEB to sign the PPA with Lakdhanavi at the agreed levelized tariff and issue a letter of intent to build the power plant. (http://www.sundaytimes.lk/201025/news/power-plant-ministry-ignores-ags-advice-seeks-go-ahead-from-cabinet-421184.html). If the RFP did not have provision to make any changes after the bids are closed, it is a lapse on the part of the person who drafted the RFP and should have been rectified at the beginning and not brought up nearly 4 years later and cause further delay.

CEB’S IMMEDIATE PLANS FOR POWER SECTOR DEVELOPMENT

In the CEB Chairman’s statement given to the press, he has also given the following list of additional major thermal power plants planned to be built within the decade.

A 300 MW CCGT power plant operating with gas to be built by a local contractor

A 300 MW CCGT power plant operating with gas to be built jointly with India and Japan with financial support from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) as a joint venture with CEB.

A 600 MW coal power plant as an extension to the existing coal power plant at Puttalam.

According to a report appearing in the Island of 26.10.2020, the CEB Chairman has stated that “the government would go ahead with the fourth power plant at the Norochcholai, as soon as the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) was completed. He has further said that the Cabinet had already endorsed the plant’s fourth unit although the AG’s Department and the PUCSL were still studying the proposal. (https://island.lk/govt-to-go-ahead-with-fourth-coal-plant-at-norochcholai-once-eia-is-ready/).

In the writer’s above article, he pointed out that in order to achieve a target of high RE share in the energy mix for power generation, all the existing and proposed coal power plants and diesel operated generators will have to be removed and correspondingly increase the share of RE sources such as solar, wind and biomass power plants. In the President’s vision for clean energy, coal has no place, which unfortunately the utility has still not understood.

The meeting that the President had with the Power Ministry and Renewable Energy Ministry on the 14th October would have been attended by the CEB Chairman. Hence, he would have been aware of the President’s directive when he made his statement to the press last week proposing to build new coal power plants. In any case, the President announced his policy to give high priority for RE sources in his manifesto. It appears that the CEB is not keen in meeting the President’s target of achieving 70% share of power generation from renewable resources since it is planning to build more coal power plants which will make it impossible to achieve the President’s target.

BRINGING LIQUEFIED NATURAL GAS (LNG) FOR THE NEW POWER PLANTS

The new CCGT power plant is required to operate with natural gas once it is available and until such time, it is permitted to operate with petroleum oil – fuel oil or diesel oil. In order to realize the President’s vision to have the existing CCGT plants converted to gas and to operate new CCGT plants to be built soon, it is necessary to have LNG available in the country by the time these power plants are built. However, the importing of LNG for operating the power plant has been a problem because there are no suitable locations to build a land terminal on the West coast close to Colombo and even mooring a floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) off the West coast has been a problem.

But acquiring and operating a land terminal or a FSRU are complex affairs and under the current situation, the country lacks the necessary expertise to venture into such an exercise. Realizing this, India, Japan and South Korea offered assistance in this regard, but authorities here are somewhat reluctant to accept such assistance. As described previously, even the selection of a CCGT power plant on BOOT basis and signing its PPA could not be accomplished by our professionals even after a lapse of nearly four years despite the fact that several CCGT power plants are in operation in the country and CEB has entered into PPAs with hundreds of independent power producers in the past. Therefore, one cannot imagine how long our professionals would take to finalize a PPA for a hitherto unknown operation of a FSRU or an LNG land terminal.

There are several other options available for bringing LNG into the country. One is to use a mini-terminal at Dikkowita adjoining its fisheries harbour for which the Cabinet approval has already been granted. LNG is brought to the terminal in small shallow carriers which could be accommodated in Dikkowita terminal. After re-gasification, the gas could be taken to the power plant site using pipelines. The writer understands that Its commencement is awaiting the approval of the relevant regulatory authorities. It appears that there is no one in authority willing to take a decision on this matter.

Another option available is to make use of insulated standard containers conforming to specifications of International Standard Organization (ISO). These containers could be used both for transport and storage until the gas is used in the power plant. Once a container is brought to the Port in a standard container carrier, it is unloaded on to a trailer drawn by a prime mover and taken to a yard close to the power plant site. As and when required, a container is moved to a platform built close to the power plant and LNG is fed to a re-gasifier with storage from which the gas is fed to the power plant. There is no additional infrastructure required to import these containers other than what is already available within the Port. The only requirement is that it needs the clearance from the Ministry of Energy, Ports Authority, Motor Traffic Dept. and the Central Environmental Authority.

A third option is to negotiate with China who is building an LNG terminal within Hambantota Harbour to feed its 400 MW CCGT gas power plant currently being built there to supply power to industries in the Chinese Industrial Estate planned in Hambantota. If the capacity of this terminal is increased, the additional gas could be brought to the city in a pipeline laid along the highway reservation for operating the gas power plants planned near the city. In addition, the government should be able to provide a bunkering service to LNG operated vessels passing Hambantota for which Singapore is already building the necessary infrastructure.

A fourth option is to develop Trincomalee Harbour as a hub for natural gas distribution. LNG could be brought in large carriers to Trincomalee Harbour which has the ideal depth and area to build a large land terminal. Once re-gasified, gas could be stored and brought to the city and other load centres through pipe lines. Surplus gas could be supplied to South India who has been negotiating for decades to bring gas from suppliers in the region including Myanmar, Turkmenistan and Iran. Sri Lanka need not spend any capital on the project other than providing the land and regulatory mechanism while building the actual facility could be assigned to an investor with good track record.

CONCLUSION

With the President announcing his new policy on incorporation of 70% of power generation from renewable resources, the Ministry Policy Guidelines on Electricity Industry needs amendment through a Cabinet decision to give effect to this policy decision. Further, the CEB will have to revise its long-term generation expansion plan to align with this policy as its current plans only yield a RE share of only 35%.

Achieving a 70% target of renewable energy share in power generation by 2030 is feasible both technically and financially as pointed out by the writer in his recent articles which appeared in the Island of 25th and 26th September. However, the question is whether the CEB is willing to give up coal enabling it to meet the President’s target.

There are several options available for bringing LNG to the country to make achieving this target feasible. However, a suitable regulatory mechanism needs to be put in place before such mechanisms are implemented along with necessary facilities for monitoring of operations and ensuring safety protocols are adhered to following acceptable international procedure including guidelines laid down in international classified societies.

With the President giving the leadership for adopting cleaner technologies for power generation, it is essential that the relevant organizations, particularly the CEB, do their utmost to achieve his targets without giving lame excuses or its engineering staff threatening trade union action to get the President to change his policy as they have done in the past.

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Features

The Division Bell Mystery

Published

2 days ago

2026/05/29

Thilina Walpola

Tales of Mystery and Suspense 3

The murder, in a private dining room in the house, is of a financier with whom the government was negotiating a loan. When this seemed difficult the Minister of Home Affairs agreed to lead discussions, since he had known Mr Oissel the financier when they were young. Hence the private dinner, but when the Minister stepped out for a vote, Oissel was shot just as the Division Bell rang.

The Brahms and Simon detective novels, the first of which I wrote about last week, were amongst several books by the pair that Robert Scoble gave me when I was in Australia towards the end of last year. Amongst them was another thriller of a very different sort, though that too was written and set between the wars.

Called The Division Bell Mystery, it was set in the House of Commons, the first such book I believe, and was by Ellen Wilkinson, a Labour MP who became Minister of Education in Attlee’s government after the war, having served previously as Parliamentary Private Secretary to several ministers. Her hero Robert West is also a PPS, but a conservative, and his Minister, of Home Affairs, is an old style aristocrat, not much loved by the less orthodox Prime Minister, who nevertheless needs his support on many occasions.

The murder, in a private dining room in the house, is of a financier with whom the government was negotiating a loan. When this seemed difficult the Minister of Home Affairs agreed to lead discussions, since he had known Mr Oissel the financier when they were young. Hence the private dinner, but when the Minister stepped out for a vote, Oissel was shot just as the Division Bell rang.

West was just outside the door when the shot was heard, and when he opened it saw only the dead body with a revolver beside it. The assumption that this was suicide was however challenged by Oissel’s grand-daughter Annette, who was his heir, on the grounds that he would never have killed himself. But her view was given greater credence by the Inspector put in charge of the case who said there were no burn marks on the body which would have been the case had Oissel fired the pistol himself.

Matters are complicated by the fact that Oissel’s flat had been burgled while he was at dinner, and Jenks the policeman allocated to him, who had served the Home Secretary and seemed more acceptable to Oissel than someone from the Security Service, had been killed. Matters get even more complicated when Annette says her grand-father’s notebook in which he wrote his secrets in cipher was missing.

That was found in Jenks’ pocket, and then a photographer came to West to say he had been asked by Jenks to photograph this. More worryingly for West, he finds in the Home Secretary’s drawer a few pages from the notebook with what appears to be an interpretation of the cipher.

Ellen

Overwhelmed by all this he confides in a recently created peer who knows all about the business world, who insists that they leave the house party at which they had met over dinner and discuss the matter with the Prime Minister who promptly summons the Home Secretary.

But the Home Secretary had gone to Scotland to launch a ship over the weekend, so the meeting could take place only on the morning of the Monday, when difficult questions were expected on the adjournment motion. He admits at the meeting that he had got Jenks to take the notebook, and also that he knew the code since it had been created by him and Oissel when they were young.

He thought he should resign, and even contemplated suicide, but the Prime Minister told him that that would be even worse for the government, and that he should go home to bed. The Prime Minister said that he himself would handle the question, which he did with aplomb, insisting that confidentiality was needed until the inquest. What had happened would be made clear then, he declared, leaving West and Inspector Blackit and Lord Dalbeattie what seemed the impossible task of solving the murder.

Dalbeattie had suggested that West ask a female Labour MP who was very fond of him to get what information she could from the staff. That there was some involvement there had become clear when West, going back late one night to collect a briefcase he had left in a dining room, found someone lurking in the dark in the corridor outside the private rooms. Room J, where the murder had happened, was meant to be guarded throughout by a policeman, but he had left the room having felt dizzy, and it seemed that his coffee had been drugged. West’s sudden appearance however had prevented anyone else getting into the room.

Dalbeattie decides to recreate the scene of the murder and has a dinner party in Room J on the Tuesday night, inviting West and Annette and the society hostess at whose house he had met, and also Patrick Kinnaird, an MP who was engaged to Annette, as well as the Permanent Secretary to the Home Ministry.

After coffee Inspector Blackit comes in with Grace, the Labour MP who had got the confidence of the staff, and a journalist who had also been helpful, and just as they say they think they are on the track the division bell rings. Grace jumps up and tells the Inspector that that provides the solution and they get a ladder, and sure enough find the revolver in the space where the bell is. Directed at the place where Oissel had sat, it had been primed to go off with the ringing of the bell. The waiter who had helped to set things up made clear who the murderer had been.

The reason for the murder and the confused motives of all those involved made for a fascinatingly intricate mix. But also impressive in the book were the descriptions of the isolation possible in the crowded premises of the house, the forceful characterization of the members – Grace based on the writer, the society hostess based on Nancy Astor, the first female MP – and the laid back nature of senior politicians which West realized had to change in the brave new world of high finance.

Features

The challenge of keeping value-based politics alive

Published

3 days ago

2026/05/28

Sahan Weerasooriya

Anti-migrant protests in Durban, South Africa. BBC

The current outbreak of anti-immigrant protests in Durban, South Africa is bound to have taken many a subscriber to value-based politics or political idealism quite by surprise. After all, this is evidence that despite the historic accomplishments of nation-builders of the stature of the late President Nelson Mandela it cannot be taken for granted that identity politics, including racism in its worst forms, is no more in South Africa.

At the time of this writing details are scarce on the substantive root causes of the protests but it could very well be that economic grievances, particularly on the part of the majority community in South Africa, are contributing considerably to the disaffection. Shrinking employment and material prospects are likely to figure majorly among the factors igniting the unrest.

Fortunately, the local authorities in Durban are losing no time in calling for peaceful co-existence among the relevant communities and are pointing to the vital importance of stepping-up national integration processes. Apparently, immigrants in sizable numbers from neighbouring countries are present in Durban. However, international TV footage of the protests quoted some local authorities as saying that the majority of the immigrants in some centres that housed them were not illegal migrants and had the documents that entitle them to be in Durban.

In the Durban protests the world has fresh proof of the socially divisive consequences of the gathering globe-wide economic disaffection, touched off particularly by the continuing crisis in West Asia. Going ahead, the world would need to brace for increasing identity-based unrest of the kind it is just witnessing in South Africa.

Considering that the material lot of ordinary people everywhere could only aggravate progressively, with the US and Iran showing no signs of negotiating an end to their confrontation any time soon, it will be left to the more democratic and progressive sections of the world community to initiate positive measures collectively to bring a measure of relief to the discontented.

The swiftness with which such relief will be provided would depend crucially on the importance those sections taking up these undertakings attach to value-based politics as opposed to Realpolitik of power politics.

Going by these yardsticks, Italy could be considered to be moving in the right direction. Recently Italy came to the fore in initiating the collective named, ‘Rome Coalition for Food Security and Access to Fertilizer’, which has as one of its aims the swift provision of fertilizer to economically weak African countries.

In a recent statement Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Antonio Tajani, said that a principal aim of the project was to ensure that the farmers of Africa gained easy access to fertilizer, considering that food security is a growing concern among some of Africa’s economically vulnerable countries.

The statement went on to mention that some 30 countries hailing from the Mediterranean region, the Middle East, the Balkans as well as the FAO had been invited to join the coalition. The venture is far-seeing in that food security is main among the reasons for social discontent which in turn could degenerate into endemic political turmoil and bloodshed. Separatist violence and geographical fragmentation of countries wouldn’t be too far behind these developments, as Africa itself has often proved.

It is hoped that more G7 countries would take the cue from Italy and do what they could to ease the hardships of economically distressed countries, particularly of the global South. In these efforts they would need to break rank with the US, which is today brutally indifferent to the consequences of its policy of making ‘America First’, come what may.

Going by current developments, the Trump administration seems to be blithely oblivious to the wider, deleterious effects of its policy course in West Asia. Besides rendering Iran militarily and otherwise impotent nothing else seems to matter to Washington, as regards West Asia. This is policy short-sightedness of an extreme kind. After all, right now West Asia could be said to be sitting on the proverbial powder keg.

On the other hand, Iran is not giving the world the impression that it is doing anything constructive to get out of the policy straitjacket that it wove for itself decades ago. Rather than enter into a policy of ‘live and let live’ in relation to Israel in particular and initiate a process of reconciliation with the latter, it has chosen to operate within policy parameters that continue to damn Israel. This has put Israel always on the ‘defensive’ so to speak and prevented the opening up of space for meaningful dialogue.

That said, Israel is obliged to explore the possibilities of entering into a negotiatory process with the Arab-Islamic world that could lead to a de-escalation of tensions and bloodshed. It cannot continue to look at its neighbours through lenses that distort them as archetypal enemies who should be ‘wiped off completely from the face of the earth.’

In other words, the need is urgent for Realpolitik to give way to value-based politicks. Italy is beginning to prove that the latter approach could be pursued with some success. May be the EU and the UK could throw their weight behind these initiatives as well and establish that international politics could be refashioned on the basis of humane, civilized norms. The UN would need to be fully supportive of these moves and prove an organizational nucleus of the operations that follow.

In fact the time is ripe for people of conscience to collectively stand up on the side of peace and say ‘No’ to war and violence. Organizations such as the ICRC, the WHO and Medicines Sans Frontiers have already taken up this call. Referring to the widespread destruction of health facilities and their dehumanizing results these organizations have said, among other things, that ‘This is not a failure of the law. It is a failure of political will.’

True, ‘failure of political will’ among those powers that matter accounts for the runaway, uncontrollable nature of war and destruction in contemporary times, but more fundamentally it is a failure of the human conscience. It could very well be that the phenomenal levels to which violence and war have been unleashed today have had the effect of deadening consciences. This is a matter for urgent study and wide discussion.

Features

Vesak celebrations … with Cuteefly

Published

3 days ago

2026/05/28

Sahan Weerasooriya

Perfect for celebrations, gifts, and meaningful occasions // Gift pack

I would describe Indunil Kaushalya Dissanayaka as innovative and creative, and she operates under the name of Cuteefly.

Indunil always comes up with something novel to celebrate special occasions, and she does it with candles … and that’s her profession.

She was in the spotlight when she created a happening scene, with candles, for Christmas, Sinhala and Tamil New Year, and Valentine’s Day.

As lanterns light up Sri Lanka for Vesak, the Colombo-based candle maker is quietly turning wax and wick into little pieces of the festival.

Candles reflecting Vesak themes

Her candles reflect Vesak themes – light, peace, remembrance, giving, etc., to enable you to fill your Vesak celebration with devotion and beauty.

Among her Vesak creations is a lotus-shaped soy candle, scented with sandalwood, lavender, etc., meant to burn during this Vesak Poya Day.

Indunil Kaushalya Dissanayaka: Customers
praise her for her creativity

These handcrafted Vesak candles are perfect for offering at the temple, she says.

What makes her creations so novel is that they come in different shapes, scents, themes, and all are handmade.

What’s more, her customers have heaped praise on her for her creativity.

According to Indunil, her creations are perfect as a thoughtful gift … to bring beauty, unity, and light into every moment.

Says Indunil: “Our beautifully handcrafted Unity candles are designed with premium detail and love, making them perfect for celebrations, gifts, and meaningful occasions.”

Cuteefly, says Indunil, is available online.

Readers could contact Indunil on 0778506066 for more details.

He Facebook Page is: Cuteefly.