Power crisis
Editorial-March 14, 2016, 8:15 pm
Sunday’s power outage has left the government groping in the dark once again. It occurred even before the high-powered committees recently appointed to probe the previous power failure in February had submitted their reports.
The latest power outage has come at a time the government is making a much-advertised effort to provide every household with electricity before the traditional New Year next month. Every family needs electricity and the government’s concern is to be appreciated. But, while pursuing its ambitious goal, it ought to ensure a reliable power supply throughout the country. Power cuts, blackouts and brownouts are common in most areas, especially in Colombo suburbs.
The Chinese-built Norochcholai coal-fired power plant is like a Sri Lankan university; it shuts down at the first sign of trouble and takes a long time to return to normal. The government has warned that more power failures are likely to occur within the next few days. All signs are that we will have to live with blackouts indefinitely.
Persistent power outages point to the need for enabling people to tap solar power and feed the national grid with excess electricity they generate. That is the best way the country can overcome its dependency on expensive thermal power generation without polluting the environment. As for power outages, the clichéd silver lining is that the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) is driving the people to generate their own power. It is high time the government gave serious thought to introducing a soft loan scheme and drastic tax cuts to encourage the public to opt for solar power without depending on the national grid.
It may not be fair to lay the blame for the sorry state of affairs in the power sector at the doorstep of the present administration. Successive governments have played politics with power generation. However, the onus is on the present dispensation to explain how it is going to meet the huge increase in the demand for power its Megapolis project will bring about. The CEB has demonstrated its inability to maintain a reliable power supply even without having to supply power to mega projects like the Colombo Port City. How bad the situation will be in case of the implementation of such grandiose projects is not difficult to imagine.
CEB Engineers’ Union chief Athula Wanniarchchi insists that the transformer which exploded at Biyagama, causing Sunday’s power outage was 30 years old. He does not subscribe to the view that the explosion was an act of sabotage. But, the government has decided to deploy the army to guard power facilities. One is intrigued. Are the government worthies tilting at CEB sub-stations in quixotic style?
When the government dismantled checkpoints, reopened roads and started releasing terror suspects we thought threats to national security were over. It looks as if the government were trying to deflect public criticism through such tactics. Investigations into the previous power failures did not reveal anything sinister. So, it is puzzling why the army has been tasked with protecting CEB facilities. Does the government think the police are not equal to the task? (It is the police who are protecting President Maithripala Sirisena!)
Unless a reliable power supply can be ensured, the government might as well forget about attracting foreign direct investment. Investors cannot be expected to bring their generators, can they?
CEB Chairman Anura Wijayapala offered to resign over Sunday’s power outage. Minister Ranjith Siyambalapitiya has refused to accept his resignation letter, we are told. His resignation would not have helped solve the problem which is systemic in nature. Everything is rotten about the CEB and resignations, piecemeal remedies and gimmicks such as the deployment of the army to project CEB facilities won’t do. The need for a national strategy to modernise the power sector which is an ailing dinosaur cannot be overemphasized. That is as important as constitution making.
