Kelanitissa power plant has to be discarded: Power and Energy Minister

The Kelanitissa thermal power plant will have to be discarded because of high generating costs, Minister of Power and Energy Kanchana Wijesekera told Parliament today.

“The power station should have been discarded in 2020 but it has not been done. The cost of generating a unit of power is as high as Rs. 144 per unit at the Kelanitissa station,” the Minister said.

“The government is thinking of acquiring ACE Power and generating power at a lower cost,” the Minister added.

“We hope to call tenders for projects to produce 4700 MW of power through solar and wind power. This will help us to bring down power tariffs,” he also said.

Also, he said there has been no sufficient rains to shift into hydropower. Victoria, Rantambe, Randenigala and other reservoirs have not received adequate rainfall to begin hydro power production.

“A power tariff revision is necessary to cover the costs incurred in generating power. We will have to produce 750 GW hours of thermal power. The revision is needed to cover this cost,” Minister Wijesekera said.

-daily mirror