The Kelanitissa Power Station is a state-owned power station located on the south bank of the Kelani River in the northern part of the city of Colombo, Sri Lanka. Commissioned in 1964, it is the first thermal power station built in Sri Lanka, after the country gained independence. The facility has a current gross installed capacity of , a significant amount when compared to the total installed capacity of nearly in the year 2017. The facility is owned and operated by the Ceylon Electricity Board.
The power station has a total of 10 generation units: two boiler steam units, six gas turbines, one gas turbine, and one combined cycle unit. As of 2018, both units and two units were decommissioned after the commissioning of the combined cycle unit. The old units are now used as peak-load units. The was sent to Italy for renovations in 2011.
The newest naphtha-fuelled combined cycle unit was commissioned in August 2002. It consists of a gas turbine and a steam turbine, and one exhaust heat recovery boiler. The project was funded by the Overseas Economic Cooperation Fund of Japan. Initially, the capacity was planned at with two or three units, but a single unit with higher capacity was subsequently chosen.
+ Units Commissioned Capacity (MW) Unit Model Plant division Status 1964 25 Boiler 1 Boiler Decommissioned 25 Boiler 2 Decommissioned 1980 November 20 Gas turbine 1 GE Frame 5 Gas Turbine Decommissioned 1981 March 20 Gas turbine 2 GE Frame 5 Decommissioned 1981 April 20 Gas turbine 3 GE Frame 5 Operational 1981 December 20 Gas turbine 4 GE Frame 5 Operational 1982 March 20 Gas turbine 5 GE Frame 5 Operational 1982 April 20 Gas turbine 6 GE Frame 5 Operational 1997 August 115 Gas turbine 7 GT7 Operational 2002 August 110 Gas turbine 8 Combined Cycle Operational 55 Steam turbine
+ Electricity generation by plant division (GWh) Year Boiler Total 1969 97 - - - 97 1970 2 - - - 2 1971 18 - - - 18 1972 88 - - - 88 1973 261 - - - 261 1974 13 - - - 13 1975 1 - - - 1 1976 24 - - - 24 1977 2 - - - 2 1978 14 - - - 14 1979 58 - - - 58 1980 140 18 - - 158 1981 98 183 - - 281 1982 89 353 - - 442 1983 147 735 - - 882 1984 11 117 - - 128 1985 0 9 - - 9 1986 - 1 - - 1 1987 - 314 - - 314 1988 - 83 - - 83 1989 - 1 - - 1 1990 1 0 - - 1 1991 103 40 - - 143 1992 163 302 - - 465 1993 88 12 - - 100 1994 87 102 - - 189 1995 51 127 - - 178 1996 227 500 - - 727 1997 196 431 168 - 795 1998 214 39 303 - 556 1999 128 204 355 - 687 2000 228 374 602 - 1,204 2001 200 400 281 70 951 2002 69 179 227 470 945 2003 - 38 293 855 1,186 2004 - 141 439 1,107 1,687 2005 - 22 277 1,007 1,306 2006 - 6 67 734 807 2007 - 48 220 1,096 1,364 2008 - 25 94 1,044 1,163 2009 - 98 137 920 1,155 2010 - 26 27 494 547 2011 - 77 244 256 577 2012 - 98 120 880 1,098 2013 - 1 17 611 629 2014 - 34 208 751 993 2015 - 1 24 660 685 Total 2,818 5,139 4,103 10,955 23,015
Incidents On 28 October 2008 at 23:30, the LTTE launched two bombs in an aerial attack on the power station, causing a fire and damaging the government-owned Fiat unit. It took six months to restore the unit while one person was reported to have died, possibly due to shock. The attack was carried out using a Czech-built Zlín Z 42 single-engine trainer aircraft. On 21 April 2012 at about 03:00, a fire erupted at the power station complex, damaging the main switchboard for the plant's power generation machinery. Power generation was ceased, but did not trigger any blackouts due to alternative sources being available at the time. Six employees of the power station who inhaled noxious fumes as a result of the fire were hospitalized. On 3 February 2022 at about 20:00, the combined power station was shut down due to lack of fuel
See also Sojitz Kelanitissa Power Station Electricity in Sri Lanka List of power stations in Sri Lanka
References