76 අවුරුද්දට වඩා රටට පාඩු අනුර අවුරුදු දෙකෙන් කරලද ? අනුර තාම මූව ඉස්සර කරගෙන නිල නොලත් බලශක්ති ඇමති වගේ තියාගෙන ඉන්න එකේ හොරේ මොකක්ද ? 
Electricity consumers lost around 32,350 megawatt hours of low-cost energy from the Lakvijaya power plant because the final consignment of an emergency coal procurement arrived eight days late, leaving the plant without coal to burn, as the buffer stock had also run out.
This is on top of other losses arising from the 2025-2026 term tender, whereby of the 25 ships ordered from India’s Trident Chemphar company, only 19 arrived. All of them were late, and none met the required parameters to generate optimum energy.
Earlier this year, Lanka Coal Company (Pvt) Ltd (LCC) ordered 300,000MT of coal—five shipments of 60,000MT each—from India’s Taranjot Resources (Pvt) Ltd as an emergency tender to make up for shortages resulting from the bungled Trident procurement.
The fifth emergency consignment failed to meet required parameters and was returned. LCC instructed Taranjot to supply a replacement, which was slotted to arrive on August 27, 2026.
However, the ship arrived on September 4, officials said, before Parliament’s
Sectoral Oversight Committee (SOC) on Infrastructure and Strategic Development this month. As a result of coal not being available, around 32,350MWh of generation was lost.
According to independent calculations, this is equivalent to nearly 36 hours of the entire plant operating continuously at its full capacity of 900MW. Alternatively, it is about four and a half days of full-load generation from one 300MW unit.
During a previous SOC meeting, Lakvijaya (LVP) officials had warned that any delay in the arrival of the fifth emergency shipment would cause a crisis. Last week, they said a major—and ongoing—problem is that LVP no longer has a buffer stock of coal.
“The main issue is that the required amounts didn’t come to the plant,” he said. “We asked for 2.16MT, we got 1.996MT. We have never before had a shortage because we maintain a buffer stock of 100,000MT.”
This means that any delay or failure of a future shipment will result in LVP running out of coal when existing stocks are consumed. On September 16, the first shipment of the new season—the tender was won by India’s Aditya Birla—arrived on schedule.
SOC Chair S.M. Marikkar, MP, said that losses arising from a shortfall of MW hours must be borne by the supplier. This is in addition to delay charges. “The (Energy) Ministry must intervene immediately,” he directed.
Last month, the SOC was told that Sri Lanka’s substandard Trident Chemphar coal deal cost Electricity Generation Lanka (Pvt) Ltd (EGL) Rs 5.68bn in estimated direct financial losses, not including those arising from meeting the energy shortfall from burning low-quality coal through other power generation sources.
EGL—the successor company to the Ceylon Electricity Board—calculated the losses based on operational data recorded from March 1 to June 30 this year.
“The estimate considers only the financial losses due to the additional coal consumption resulting from the higher specific coal consumption rate compared with the historical average coal consumption rate under normal operating conditions,” a report said.
These losses are over and above the plant’s cost of losing thousands of megawatt hours owing to the delay of the fifth emergency shipment.
By Namini Wijedasa
- https://www.sundaytimes.lk/260920/news/coal-woes-continue-delivery-delays-deny-consumers-32350mw-of-low‑cost-power-657682.html
Electricity consumers lost around 32,350 megawatt hours of low-cost energy from the Lakvijaya power plant because the final consignment of an emergency coal procurement arrived eight days late, leaving the plant without coal to burn, as the buffer stock had also run out.
This is on top of other losses arising from the 2025-2026 term tender, whereby of the 25 ships ordered from India’s Trident Chemphar company, only 19 arrived. All of them were late, and none met the required parameters to generate optimum energy.
Earlier this year, Lanka Coal Company (Pvt) Ltd (LCC) ordered 300,000MT of coal—five shipments of 60,000MT each—from India’s Taranjot Resources (Pvt) Ltd as an emergency tender to make up for shortages resulting from the bungled Trident procurement.
The fifth emergency consignment failed to meet required parameters and was returned. LCC instructed Taranjot to supply a replacement, which was slotted to arrive on August 27, 2026.
However, the ship arrived on September 4, officials said, before Parliament’s
Sectoral Oversight Committee (SOC) on Infrastructure and Strategic Development this month. As a result of coal not being available, around 32,350MWh of generation was lost.
According to independent calculations, this is equivalent to nearly 36 hours of the entire plant operating continuously at its full capacity of 900MW. Alternatively, it is about four and a half days of full-load generation from one 300MW unit.
During a previous SOC meeting, Lakvijaya (LVP) officials had warned that any delay in the arrival of the fifth emergency shipment would cause a crisis. Last week, they said a major—and ongoing—problem is that LVP no longer has a buffer stock of coal.
“The main issue is that the required amounts didn’t come to the plant,” he said. “We asked for 2.16MT, we got 1.996MT. We have never before had a shortage because we maintain a buffer stock of 100,000MT.”
This means that any delay or failure of a future shipment will result in LVP running out of coal when existing stocks are consumed. On September 16, the first shipment of the new season—the tender was won by India’s Aditya Birla—arrived on schedule.
SOC Chair S.M. Marikkar, MP, said that losses arising from a shortfall of MW hours must be borne by the supplier. This is in addition to delay charges. “The (Energy) Ministry must intervene immediately,” he directed.
Last month, the SOC was told that Sri Lanka’s substandard Trident Chemphar coal deal cost Electricity Generation Lanka (Pvt) Ltd (EGL) Rs 5.68bn in estimated direct financial losses, not including those arising from meeting the energy shortfall from burning low-quality coal through other power generation sources.
EGL—the successor company to the Ceylon Electricity Board—calculated the losses based on operational data recorded from March 1 to June 30 this year.
“The estimate considers only the financial losses due to the additional coal consumption resulting from the higher specific coal consumption rate compared with the historical average coal consumption rate under normal operating conditions,” a report said.
These losses are over and above the plant’s cost of losing thousands of megawatt hours owing to the delay of the fifth emergency shipment.
By Namini Wijedasa
- https://www.sundaytimes.lk/260920/news/coal-woes-continue-delivery-delays-deny-consumers-32350mw-of-low‑cost-power-657682.html
එදා 700MW BESS කඩාකප්පල් කිරීමට බැනවැද මෙදා බාල ගල් අඟුරෝ ලවා 10MW open කරපු තක්කඩි කුහකයා Solar Net-Accounting/Net-metering තහනම් කරයි!
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