Friday, June 10, 2011

Hydro Power Free Lanka expands

Two more hydro power projects now under construction by Hydro Power Free Lanka PLC (HPFL), a subsidiary of Free Lanka Capital Holdings will supply around 2MW to the national grid on completion. The two projects owned by the company are located at Thebuwana at Kuruwita and at Stellenberg at Gampola.

The company has obtained BOI and other relevant approvals for these projects which are scheduled to be completed by mid next year after which the power produced by them will be purchased by the government. Construction work began in January this year.

A company spokesman said that the power purchase agreement has been signed with theCeylon Electricty Board (CEB) for a period of 20 years.]

With the expansion of the hydro power projects HPFL has formed three subsidiary companies to manage and operate them. One of the subsidiaries, HPFL 2 owns the Thebuwana project and the stellenberg project is owned by HPFL 3. The third subsidiary,  Free Lanka Power 1 (Pvt) Ltd owns two mini hydro power projects – Halgran Oya I & II . Hydro Power Free Lanka PLC is already supplying a total of 3.2 Mw to the national grid from its Sanquhar and Delta Plant. These two have received the Certified Emission Reduction (CER) certification - commonly referred to as carbon credits - from the United Nations.

Explaining the Company’s rationale in moving on to hydropower sector, the Company spokesman said that they were guided by government policy of developing the hydropower generation potential of the country to its full potential as it is a major indigenous resource for power generation.

During the past decade, the country’s electricity demand reports an average annual growth of 7% - 8%. This is expected to increase with the post-war boom on the industrial sector and also government continues with sound infrastructure development programs mainly to enhance the living standards of the society.

It has been estimated that 95% of electrification will be achieved by 2015 with a mix of grid and off Grid system.

source - www.island.lk

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