The daily economic indicators released by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka reveal that the power generation capacity of the Norochcholai power plant has declined.
Accordingly, on March 3, 34.2 gigawatts of electricity were added to the national grid from coal combustion, and that figure has decreased to 26.2 gigawatts yesterday, i.e. on March 17.
Although coal-fired electricity generation has decreased, diesel power plants have generated 18.7 gigawatts of electricity on March 3, and that figure has increased to 26 gigawatts on March 17, according to the Central Bank report.
Critics have long pointed out that the use of more diesel to generate electricity will increase the cost of electricity production and may ultimately be passed on to the electricity consumer.
The government is being accused by many parties that the power generation capacity of the Norochcholai power plant has declined due to the use of substandard coal.