A wish-list of an undergraduate trainee during in-plant training at Ceylon Electricity Board and Lanka

Electricity Company Note: Abbreviations and acronyms have their usual meanings.
1. Ownership and Corporate structure

Who are the owners of CEB and LECO ? Which law(s) passed by parliament (and when) allow
each of them draw their authority and function?
Who are the members of the Boards of Directors of CEB and LECO? What are the power of
Chairman and Board Members? Where does the General Manager stand in the line of authority?
Study the most recent Annual Reports of CEB and LECO.
Are these two institutions making profits or losses?
Study the management structure of CEB and LECO, including the legal basis in which CEB
operates as six different licensees within the same corporate framework.
What are the benefits of operating as separate licensees ?
How is the electricity industry regulated by PUCSL and its strengths and weaknesses ?
What regulatory targets (financial and qualitative) are operational on each licensee within CEB
and on LECO ? Are they meeting the targets?

2. Be familiar with the specific details of Sri Lanka Generating System

Obtain and be familiar with the locations and capacities, fuels used, of the full list of generating
plants, both CEB-owned and privately-owned.
Study the hydro system and the network of reservoirs, Mahaweli irrigation and power
coordination, constraints in operating hydropower plants for power generation alone.
Thermal generation system, fuels, costs, ownership (IPP and CEB)
Types of fuels used in thermal power plants: study the five types of fuels used, why they are
different, their relative costs and prices, delivery mechanisms to power plants
Visit to a hydropower plant, understand its key design features and operation
Visit an oil-fired power plant, study as above
Visit a coal-fired power plant, study as above
What are the plans to add new generating plants ? Where ? What fuel types ?
What is the methodology used to identify generating plants/plant types, and develop plans for the
future ? What are the principal criteria guiding the planning process?

3. Development of Renewable Energy (RE) other than major hydro

The Small Power Producer (SPP) programme- policy, history, prices/pricing policy, SPP
Agreement, achievements, pitfalls
Roles of other agencies in promoting and facilitating RE development
What are the RE resources ? Where are they located ?
What is the share of RE (SPP and major hydro) in terms of capacity and energy?
Small hydro plant: site visit
Wind energy plant: site visit
What are the plans to further develop these resources ? What are the barriers, both technical and
financial?

4. Sri Lanka Transmission System

HV and MV Transmission network + equipment

What are operational voltage levels, nominal voltage, voltage tolerances (in planning as well as in
real time operations), what are the difficult points in the transmission network to manage voltages,
what remedies are available.

Visit to a grid substation, identify various equipment used and their purpose, study the protection
system
Specifically study the safety procedures in substation and line operation and maintenance
Visit System Control Centre, understand how unit commitment and dispatch are decided on, what
methodology is used, software used, problems.
What is meant by merit order dispatch and out-of-merit operation?
What is spinning reserve and how is spinning reserve maintained in the system, and how much ?
What happens when spinning reserve is inadequate ?
What is under-frequency load shedding? Why is it required, what are its capabilities and
limitations?
How does a power system collapse in cascading failures ? Ask and learn the sequence of events
that led to a cascading failure of the Sri Lanka power system.

5. Transmission Lines and Equipment, and Planning

Study different types of lines (single circuit, double circuit, conductor types, conductor names,
special conductors used for specific lines and reasons, tower types)
Be familiar with the entire transmission network, grid substations.
Study/visit a line construction site, safety in construction, safety in operations
Planned transmission lines, substations, higher voltages.
How is the transmission network planned to meet future requirements ? What are the guiding
principals ? What methodology and software is used.
Study the Transmission Plan.

6. Distribution Lines and Equipment, and Planning

Study different types of lines (single circuit, double circuit, conductor types, conductor names,
pole Vs tower lines, LV lines, types of poles used)
Be familiar with the MV distribution network of a CEB Region or of LECO.
Study the planned MV distribution network (planning document) of a CEB Region or of LECO.
How are expansion decision made ? What are the guiding principals ?
How is the distribution network (both MV and LV) planned to meet future requirements ? What are
the guiding principals ? What methodology and software is used for MV planning ? Is any
software used for LV planning ?

7. Distribution Operations and Commercial Management

What procedures are there for maintenance ? What safety procedures are adopted?
What is the customer mix of the country ? What are their relative consumption levels ? What is
the per capita electricity consumption in Sri Lanka?
What documents are available in the public domain describing the electricity sector operations
(study Sri Lanka Energy Balance, CEB Statistical Digest, CEB Data on Sales and Generation,
websites of CEB, LECO, SLSEA and PUCSL)
The problem of network technical and commercial losses. What are the loss targets and
achievements so far? What further potential is there to reduce losses ?
What are the sales growth levels of each category of customers?
What is meant by TOU tariffs ? Why is such a system there ? What is its structure ?
What is Demand-side management ? Why is it required ? What measures have been
implemented by CEB/LECO ? What more can be done?

8. Improvements

Study and propose one specific project or an initiative that can achieve favourable improvements
in one or several of the following at CEB or LECO: (i) cost of electricity generation, (ii)
transmission and/or distribution costs, (iii) customer service, (iv) safety, (v) system operations
including demand management, (vi) power quality including voltage regulation, (vii) losses, both
technical and commercial. The costs and benefits must be quantified.