ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka’s Lakdhanavi Limited has undertaken the responsibilities of engineering, procurement, construction, and commissioning for the Sobadhanavi power plant as the turnkey contractor, Minister of Power and Energy Kanchana Wijesekera said.
Lakdhanavi will also manage its operation and maintenance for a period of 20 years.
“Given the significant cost advantage of LNG over Diesel, the project is set to achieve Annual Net Savings of USD 220 million, to CEB,” Wijesekera said on X (twitter).
“The gas turbine is capable of operating with up to 30% hydrogen (H2) fuel which offers significant potential and support on the country’s policy objective of carbon neutrality by 2050.”
The 220 million dollar project is aligned with state power utility the Ceylon Electricity Board’s long-term generation expansion plan (2023-2042), and “directly supports the country’s goal of achieving 70% renewable energy by 2030 by acting as a balancing power plant for the national grid”.
The first phase of the Sobadhanavi 350 MW LNG power plant was opened by President Ranil Wickremesinghe last week.
The open cycle (gas turbine) section of the plant is 220 MegaWatts according to the LTL website.
The steam turbine which would come into operation later would be 130MW.
Dubbed ‘Sobadhanavi’ the plant would initially run on liquid fuel.
LTL has struck a deal with India’s Petronet LNG to supply LNG from later. (Colombo/Sep2/2024)