No power interruption, despite temporary closure of oil refinery

Minister of power Gamini Lokuge told TimesOnline that there will be no disruption in power generation despite the temporary closure of Sapugaskanda oil refinery.

The minister said that he called an emergency meeting at the ministry to discuss whether the closure of Sapugaskanda refinery would impact the power supply.

The Minister elaborated that at the meeting concerns were raised regarding the availability of Furness oil which is needed to run thermal power plants

 Mr Lokuge said that he learned that both Ceylon Petroleum Corporation as well as their ministry have a stock of 50,000 Metric tons of furnace oil therefore thermal power plants can operate for two months without interruption.

The minister also explained that due to the rains hydraulic power generation is at an optimum level, therefore if rains continue throughout the month of December the power generation can be managed by hydraulic power alone.

He added that they have also called for tenders to purchase coal for the Norocholai power plant. “In the future, necessary amount of coal would be purchased, therefore the power supply can be supplied without any interruption for next year as well”, he said.