Daily one-hour power cuts from today

A one hour daily power cut came into effect today for four days because of the breakdown in the Norochcholai Coal Power Plant (NCPP) yesterday, Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) General Manager Vijitha Herath said.

Herath said due to the malfunction of the Norochcholai Coal Power Plant around 810MW of power is not added to the national power grid, adding that it is a shortage of 300MW.

Reportedly, the country will be divided in to four zones and the power will be cut off in sessions.

Accordingly, each zone will experience a one-hour power in one of the following time slots:

from 6 pm until 7 pm,
from 7 pm until 8 pm,
from 8 pm until 9 pm, and
from 9 pm until 10 pm.

It is expected to take a minimum of a week to restore the transmission of the main power line of the Norochcholai Coal Power Plant that tripped.

The Chairman of the CEB claimed that the power station cannot be reactivated until the turbines cool down.