A power plant in Sri Lanka is closed due to low quality oil imports. As a result load shedding has increased across the country. BBC reported this news in a report.
Janaka Ratnayake, the senior official of the power plant, said that the sulfur content of the imported oil is high. Which is not suitable for power plants and also harmful for the environment.
However, the country’s Energy Minister Kanchana Bijesekara denied the allegation.
According to reports, daily load shedding in Sri Lanka last week was 80 minutes a day. Load shedding has been increased to 140 minutes due to production shutdown due to low quality oil.
This problem would not have occurred if the refinery had bought better quality crude oil, Janaka Ratnayake said. About 10 percent of the country’s electricity comes from diesel and fuel oil-fired power plants. The rest of the power generation comes from hydro, renewable and coal-fired power plants.
Sri Lanka’s state-run fuel retailer Ceylon Petroleum Corporation disagrees with Ratnayake’s claim.
This, they claim, is due to breakdown of a hydro power station and lack of budget to purchase diesel and fuel oil.
Sri Lanka’s Power and Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekara, however, spoke in favor of the oil import policy. In a tweet, he wrote, this load shedding has increased mainly due to problems in a hydroelectric plant.
(September 27/OF)