More Power

March 07, 2007 (LBO) –Mini hydro company Vidullanka has connected a new plant to the national grid the company said Wednesday, which can boost its energy production by more than 66 percent. Vidullanka which operates a 3.2 MegaWatt (MW) plant said a 2MW plant in Batatota has now been connected to Ceylon Electricity Board. The new plant will boost its annual power generation to 20 GigaWatthours (GWh) from the current 12 GWh, the firm said in a statement to the Colombo Stock Exchange.

In the year ended March 2006, the firm earned revenues of 76.8 million rupees and profits of 38.7 million by producing 12.5 GWh of electricity.

The company has a 15-year power purchase agreement with the CEB.

From January 2006, CEB raised mini-hydro tariffs by 19 percent or 1.12 rupees to 6.94 rupees per kiloWatthour (kWh) during the wet season, when most of the power is generated.

The dry season tariff, (February, March and April) was raised by 91 cents or 13.5 percent to 7.64 rupees a unit.

Hydro firms are also due to get a much higher rate under a new three tiered structure, to be unveiled later this year.

Hydro-operators could get more than 8.50 rupees per unit (kilo Watt