Sri Lanka has ordered the rationing of electricity throughout the week after power cuts plunged the island into darkness following yet another failure of the Norochcholai power plant.
Sri Lankan officials said a “technical fault” at the plant left the island without power for up to 10 hours. Traffic lights in the southern capital of Colombo failed, alongside water pumps in many areas, causing widespread disruption.
Planned power cuts have been scheduled for the week ahead as Sri Lanka attempted to restart the plant.
”A coal-powered plant takes a few days to restart after a shutdown," a spokesman for the board said. "We will have the power cuts to conserve electricity until we are able to reconnect the coal plant at Norachcholai.”
Norachcholai delivers approximately 12% of Sri Lanka’s electricity in total.
The plant, built using a USD $455 million loan from China's EXIM bank, was constructed by Chinese workers from the China National Machinery Import and Export Corporation.
Since having opened, a series of failures at the plant – deemed “quality issues” by the Chairman of the Ceylon Electricity Board – have led to repeated island-wide power cuts.
From 2010 to 2014 the plant broke down at least 26 times, leading to Chinese engineers being flown in several times for repairs.
When questioned in 2013 over whether the plant is “sub-standard”, CEB Engineers Union President Nandika Pathirage had responded,
"We cannot compare a BMW with a Maruti".
