Bowled Over

March 14 (LBO) – Sri Lanka's power utility is on a drive to provide uninterrupted supply to the country, while facing googlies from depleting hydro reserves, technical glitches, and higher demand from world cup cricket viewers. Meanwhile, the utility's engineers union has also been warning that additional thermal plants may be needed to bridge a possible gap that may come up early next year, before the Kerawalapitiya combined cycle plant comes on line around August 2008.

Engineers say that the CEB should be looking at calling for additional thermal plants now instead of waiting until the last moment and rushing to procure emergency power at high prices. The Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) is asking consumers to keep minimum lighting as they watch World Cup Cricket into the wee hours of the morning.

"We are asking consumers to shut off extra lights when they watch matches," General Manager D R Pullaperuma told LBO.

"We also want to put advertisements on live broadcasts asking customers to switch off unnecessary lights while they are watching matches."

The CEB's hydro reserves have been depleting faster this year than last year, partly due to technical glitches that kept Independent Power Producer (IPP) the AES