Training Report

Industrial Training Report
Preface
This Industrial Training Report is prepared after completion of 23 weeks of Industrial
training at Hemas Power PLC., Ceylon electricity Board and Lanka Electricity Company
(Pvt.) Ltd.
Completion of 22 weeks Industrial Training is compulsory for the award of the Degree of the
Bachelor of Science in Engineering from the University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka and it is
conducted after the completion of level 3 semesters 1. Industrial Training program was
carried out by the National Apprentice and Industrial Training Authority (NAITA) in
collaboration with the Training Division of the University of Moratuwa.
This report contained with my experiences and knowledge I gathered during my training
period from 15/02/2010 to 23/07/2010.
Chapter 1 is included with introduction of my three training places. And chapter 2 is included
with my experiences which are learned during my training. And finally Chapter 3 is
conclusion which gives a summary about the training.
S R M D T S WIJESEKARA | 070549D i
Acknowledgement
I grant my gratitude to all who helped me to get a proper training. I should thank to NAITA
and Industrial Training Division for conducting an Industrial Training Program with this
success. Furthermore, I should thank to the Department of Electrical Engineering for
restructuring the training program for this worth, collaborating with the Industrial Training
Division.
And also I thank Mr. Kishan Nanayakkara, who is the managing director of Hemas Power
Plc. for preparing us the opportunity to have training in Hemas Power, and Mr. Krishantha
Wimalasiri for presenting the helping hand when we were in an ocean of unknown. I thank to
all the staff members in Hemas Power for helping me on gathering the knowledge of their
fields.
Special thanks to Dr. Narendra de Silva for offering us the opportunity to have training in
LECO. And I grant my gratitude to all the engineers in System Development Division,
System Operations, and Nugegoda Branch Office. Furthermore, I thank to the staff in Ekala
meter repairing and testing lab and Transformer repairing lab, and Boralasgaamuwa
Customer service Center.
My special thanks to Mr. Buddhadasa, electrical engineer in internal training for preparing a
training opportunity in CEB. And I should give my gratitude to Mrs. Mendis, who is the
DGM of Other Hydro Complex, for giving us the chance to be in S’wawa power station and
gather knowledge. And also thankful to all the chief engineers in Transmission, Operation
and Maintenance, Samanalawewa Power Station, Kalanithissa Power Station and
Kalanithissa Combined Cycle Power Plant, Generation Planning Branch and System Control
Center. And also I thank to the engineers and other staff members in CEB, who helped us
sharing their knowledge.
S. R. M. D. T. S. Wijesekara
Department of Electrical Engineer
Faculty of Engineering
University of Moratuwa.
S R M D T S WIJESEKARA | 070549D ii
Content
Preface.........................................................................................................................................i
Acknowledgement.....................................................................................................................ii
Content......................................................................................................................................iii
List of Figures............................................................................................................................v
List of Tables.............................................................................................................................vi
Introduction.........................................................................................................................vii
1.1 Hemas power.................................................................................................................viii
1.1.1 Organizational Structure...........................................................................................ix

1.1.2 Strength.....................................................................................................................ix
1.1.3 Weaknesses...............................................................................................................ix
1.1.4 Profitability...............................................................................................................ix
1.1.5 Usefulness to society..................................................................................................x
1.2 Ceylon Electricity Board..................................................................................................x
1.2.1 Vision.........................................................................................................................x
1.2.2 Mission.......................................................................................................................x
1.2.3 Present Performances of CEB....................................................................................x
1.2.4 Strength of the CEB..................................................................................................xi
1.2.5 Weaknesses of CEB..................................................................................................xi
1.2.6 Profitability...............................................................................................................xi
1.2.7 Usefulness to the society...........................................................................................xi
1.3 Lanka Electricity Company............................................................................................xii
1.3.1 Organizational structure.........................................................................................xiii

1.3.2 Present performance...............................................................................................xiii
1.3.3 Profitability.............................................................................................................xiii
1.3.4 Strength of the company.........................................................................................xiii
1.3.5 Weaknesses of the company...................................................................................xiii
S R M D T S WIJESEKARA | 070549D iii

Training Experience...........................................................................................................xiv
1.4 Hemas power..................................................................................................................xv
1.4.1 Hemas building power system.................................................................................xv

1.4.2 Mini Hydro Plants................................................................................................xviii
1.4.3 Designing a mini hydro plant..................................................................................xxi
1.4.4 Trash rack design..................................................................................................xxvi
1.4.5 Financial Structure of a company and evaluation for acquire a company...........xxvii
1.4.6 Gidddawa mini hydro power plant.....................................................................xxviii
1.4.7 Maintenance schedule..............................................................................................35
1.5 Ceylon Electricity Board................................................................................................36
1.5.1 Hydro Power Generation – Samanalawawa Power Station.....................................36

1.5.2 Kalanithissa Power Station & Kalanithissa Combine Cycle Power Plant...............41
1.5.3 Transmission Operation and Maintenance Branch..................................................44
1.5.4 System Control Centre ............................................................................................47
1.5.5 Generation Planning.................................................................................................50
1.6 LECO..............................................................................................................................55
1.6.1 System Development Division................................................................................56

1.6.2 System Operations ..................................................................................................58
1.6.3 Branch Office...........................................................................................................61
1.6.4 Customer Service Center (Depot)............................................................................63
Conclusion............................................................................................................................65
Annexes ...................................................................................................................................68
Annex 1 – MATLAB Program on flow duration curve......................................................69
Annex 2 – MATLAB Program on turbine selection-1........................................................70
Annex 3 – MATLAB Program on turbine selection-2........................................................71
Annex 4 – Trash rack design...............................................................................................72
Annex 5 – Teamwork workshop certificate.........................................................................73
Annex 6 – Maintenance schedule........................................................................................74
S R M D T S WIJESEKARA | 070549D iv
List of Figures
Figure 1.1-1 - staff of the Hemas Power PLC...........................................................................ix
Figure 1.3-2- LECO Distribution Areas..................................................................................xii
Figure 1.3-3 - LECO Organizational Structure........................................................................xii
Figure 2.1-4 - Power system of Hemas building.....................................................................xvi
Figure 2.1-5.............................................................................................................................xix
Figure 2.2-6 - Annual Hydrograph........................................................................................xxii
Figure 2.2-7 - Flow Duration Curve......................................................................................xxii
Figure 2.2-8 - Turbine Efficiency Curve...............................................................................xxiv
Figure 2.2-9 Turbine Selection Chart....................................................................................xxiv
Figure 2.5-10 - Waterway of Giddawa MHP........................................................................xxix
Figure 2.5-11 - Electrical System of Giddawa MHP.............................................................xxx
S R M D T S WIJESEKARA | 070549D v
List of Tables
Table 2.1-1 - Hemas Building Electricity Expenditures........................................................xvii
Table 2.6-2.1 - CEB training schedule * the LECO period. Not relevant to this section......36
Table 3.5-3.1 - LECO training Schedule..................................................................................55
S R M D T S WIJESEKARA | 070549D vi
Introduction
S R M D T S WIJESEKARA | 070549D vii

1.1 Hemas power

Hemas Power PLC is a strategic investment company, which invests in power sector,
generation area. The company is a sub company of Hemas Holdings PLC and functions as the
holding company of the group’s power sector investments. The company has currently
invested in one thermal power plant and three mini hydro power plants.
The company was formed in 2003 and public listed some time after Hemas Holdings
was public listed. Currently, 75% of the capital of the company is owned by Hemas Holdings
and remain 25% are issued as the public shares. The price of the share on Hemas Power is
about 23.00 LKR currently.
Hemas Power invested in Heladanavi 100MW thermal power plant as the first
invested project. In this project, 15% of the capital was invested by Hemas Power and
another 15% was by Lakdanavi Ltd. The rest 70% was collected as loans. Te capital cost of
the plant was 6.2M LKR. Currently 50% of the voting shares are owned by Hemas Power.
The operations and maintenances are conducted by Lakdanave Ltd, who is the operation and
maintenance contractor of the plant. The plant was commissioned in 2004. The unit cost of
the plant is about 16 to 18LKR.
As the second project and as the first renewable energy project of hemas power,
Giddawa Hydro Power was established. It was located in Giddawa, Theldeniya in Kandy
district. From the feasibility to the operation all the procedures in this plant, was done by the
Hemas Power. The plant was registered as Giddawa Hydro Power. More details about this
project will be discussed in later chapters.
As the third project the Magal Ganga Small Hydropower plant was set up. The pre-
feasibility and feasibility studies were done by Okanda Power Grid (Pvt.) Ltd. The
documents were acquired by Hemas Power in the feasibility stage. The plant is located at
S R M D T S WIJESEKARA | 070549D viii
Daraniyagala in the Kegalle District and it is fed from the river Magal Ganga. The capacity of
the plant is 2.4MW. The power plant is supposed to be commissioned in 2011.
The Senok Mark Hydro power plant which is located at Lindula, Thalawakale was
acquired by Hemas power in operation level. The capacity of the power plant is 2.6MW. And
the power plant is fed from Agra Oya.
1.1.1 Organizational Structure

The company is acted as a
sub-company of Hemas holdings as
said above. The organizational
structure could be shown as figure
1.1. Currently Electrical Engineer
Figure 1.1-1 - staff of the Hemas Power PLC.
and Mechanical Engineer are
working as the project managers. The complete staff is about 60 personals with the project
staff who are working in the project sites.
1.1.2 Strength
Hemas power achieved to more than Rs.5 billion as the annual revenue with a
minimum number of staff like 60. And also, the staffs in the plants as well as in the
managerial level are very much loved to the company and the power plants. Having such a
staff is the greatest strength the Hemas Power have.
1.1.3 Weaknesses
Even though the staff is very much love to the company, the employees in the lower
levels like labors are leaving the company due to the insufficiency of the salary. This is an
improper management practice. Through this the lack of the sufficient staff to the power
plants could be occurred.
1.1.4 Profitability
When considering the power generation, the renewable power generation is an
extremely profitable field. Because, the electricity is classified as an essential item and the
foul cost in renewable plants are very low. Due to that reason the company is in a stable
financial state.
S R M D T S WIJESEKARA | 070549D ix
1.1.5 Usefulness to society

In a time, which the country is facing a relatively downcast financial state, and
spending a high price to the thermal energy, invest and encourage the renewable power sector
could be considered as a great service to the country. And also, the company always tries to
help to the people who are living nearby the plant area.
1.2 Ceylon Electricity Board

Ceylon Electricity Board, which is commonly known as the CEB was established by
the Ceylon Electricity Board act in 1969 under the Ministry of Irrigation and Power. Later on,
the CEB was transferred to the Ministry of energy and power. Currently this institute is
governed by the Ceylon Electricity Board act 1969 and Sri Lanka Electricity act 2009. The
CEB has divided into three divisions; Generation, transmission and Distribution. Currently,
the license for generation and distribution are issued for IPPs as well as the CEB and CEB is
the only one who is having the license for transmission.
1.2.1 Vision
“Be an internationally recognized efficient utility providing high quality service to all
its stakeholders.”
1.2.2 Mission
“To provide reliable quality electricity to the entire nation at internationally
competitive prices effectively and efficiently through a meaningful partnership with skilled
and motivated employees using appropriate state-of-the-art technology for the socio
economic development of the country in an economically sustainable manner while meeting
acceptable environment standards”.
1.2.3 Present Performances of CEB

CEB is the largest organization related to the power sector in Sri Lanka and the main
controller of the power sector. 74% of the installed capacity in Sri Lanka is owned by CEB.
And the current total capacity which is owned by CEB is about 1902.1MW. And also, it
serves more than 90% of area in Sri Lanka through the transmission and distribution lines
owned by CEB.
Due to the large size and the complexity of the organization, even though the
organizational structure is well structured, the management had become a problem. There are
S R M D T S WIJESEKARA | 070549D x
many inefficiency in CEB and it was categorized as an institute, run in a loss state. To
overcome this problem and to generate reliable operation out of CEB, a restructuring for CEB
was proposed. According to that, the CEB is supposed to divide into three individual sectors
and privatize them was proposed. But, due to the criticisms of the trade unions, the proposal
was failed from the parliament.
1.2.4 Strength of the CEB

The assets, which is owned by CEB is about billions of rupees. Due to that asserts it
keeps the control over the power sector in Sri Lanka. And also, it is having the all three
license for Generation, Transmission and Distribution. Furthermore, the only licensee of
transmission is CEB. This makes CEB, the most powerful institute in power sector.
1.2.5 Weaknesses of CEB

CEB is an organization which is operated under the Sri Lanka Government. So the
rights of the employees are significantly strong. So the employees, who are not taking a part
of the critical decision makings and the critical issues, are acted in an unproductive manner.
This makes CEB a loss counting organization. And also, because of CEB is operated under
the government, some important decisions like building plants are taken through the
government. So the control of the CEB is gone out of its hand, sometimes to the people who
are not having the proper understanding of the field’s important areas. This makes the
operation difficult to CEB.
1.2.6 Profitability
As said above, the CEB is conducted under huge losses. This had made the
organization unprofitable. Proposals to improve the profitability had come out time to time.
But due to some reasons, these attempts have been restrained.
1.2.7 Usefulness to the society

The electricity, as said above, is an essential service. Manipulating such a sector in a
reliable manner is a great social service to the country. Even though the distribution ends are
having come problems, as a macro scale picture, CEB provides a quality vice very good
service through the generation, transmission and satisfactory service through distribution. The
staff in key positions of the institute are always try to conduct a safe and reliable service to
the country. As an example, the number of blackouts is minimum and the voltages in the
transmission ends are usually kept within the range.
S R M D T S WIJESEKARA | 070549D xi
1.3 Lanka Electricity Company.

Lanka Electricity Company, commonly known as LECO is an electricity distribution
company. This company is the only company which is having the power distribution license
instead of CEB. The LECO distribution areas are extended from Negombo to Galle, in the
west coastal area of the island.
LECO was established in 1983, as a solution for the inefficient electricity supply in
above mentioned areas. Before 1983, the electricity distribution of these areas was controlled
by the local authorities. By considering the inefficiencies, the government decided to
establish a private company for the electricity distribution. Then LECO established, but the
full ownership of the company is belonged to the
Government authorities.
15% of the electricity distribution is owned by LECO.

For the administration simplicity, the LECO distribution
network is divided into seven branches. They are Negambo,
Kelaniya, Kotte, Nugegoda, Moratuwa, Kaluthara and Galle
respectively. There is a LECO training school is established
in Ekala. Each branch is consists several depots. And the
staff is about 1500 personals.
Currently LECO is operating is 39 local Government

areas and over 500,000 consumers are having the service of
Figure 1.3-2- LECO

LECO.
Distribution Areas
LECO purchases the electricity from the primary substations as
11kV power. Then it distributes as 11kV high voltage for bulk consumers
and 400V low voltage power.
S R M D T S WIJESEKARA | 070549D xii
Figure 1.3-3 - LECO Organizational Structure

1.3.1 Organizational structure

The LECO organizational structure could be shown as figure 1.2
1.3.2 Present performance

LECO maintains the distribution network in a good state. The distribution losses are
kept below 6% while the distribution loss in CEB is having higher value like 14%.
Furthermore, LECO maintains a GPS based geographical information system, which helps
LECO in asset management in a highly accurate manner. LECO always tries to gather the
new technology to the Sri Lankan power distribution area.
Currently, LECO has invested in a meter production factory in Bandaragama. The

projects like net-metering and broadband service via power lines could be taken as the future
steps, willing to be taken by LECO.
1.3.3 Profitability
As said above, LECO maintains the network in a loss-minimum manner. This makes
the company loss reduced profitable one. Furthermore, the components used in the LECO
distribution network, prevents stalling the electricity in a higher degree.
The distribution business is operated under a tariff system. So the profits should be
gained mainly by reducing the losses and maintaining the network in a good condition.
1.3.4 Strength of the company

The company is having a well structured, technological system to maintain the
network. So supplying a quality vice good service has become simple. Furthermore LECO
areas are having a high density of consumers. This has become an extra profit to LECO.
1.3.5 Weaknesses of the company

The interconnection between the employee levels of the company has become
minimum. So the disagreement between the managerial level and the other employee levels
are occurred. This might caused to the reduction of the satisfactory of the employees.
S R M D T S WIJESEKARA | 070549D xiii

Training
Experience
S R M D T S WIJESEKARA | 070549D xiv

1.4 Hemas power
1.4.1 Hemas building power system.

As our first assignment, we were assigned to analyze the power system of the Hemas
building, Colombo.
The building was locates adjacent to the Bristol street and York street itself, and the
workplaces are located facing the both streets and the corridors inside the building in upper
floors. Eusifully Trust, the owner of the company, conducts all the maintenances of the
building including provide the requirements like electricity, water, maintain the buildings
systems etc. It charges for the services from the residents. Hemas holdings and Eusifully trust
are shareholders of each other. The building was constructed about 50 years ago and since
then Hemas has resident it.
In understanding the electrical system of the Hemas building, as our first step, we went
to meet Mr. Jeffry Mohomad, who was the manager of Eusifully trust. He and Mr. Piyasiri, a
maintainer of the electrical system, helped us on understanding the electrical system.
The power system of the Hemas building could be divided into two, the main power
system and the alternative system. The main power system is containing a 1000kVA
transformer, a bus bar, metering gauge units and main switches. The power is taken from
CEB as 11kV to the transformer. Then the electricity is transformed to 400v and taken to a
bus bar. The residents in Hemas building could have the postal address belong to either
Bristol Street or York Street. Due to these two kinds of addresses, the power distribution
system in the building is too divided into two sections; Bristol street side and York street
side. Through the above bus bar, the power is divided to above sections. Those section lines
are then connected to another two bus bars, through metering units and main switches. As the
alternative power system, a 640kVA diesel generator is placed. The generator is connected to
a different bus bar through switching units.
S R M D T S WIJESEKARA | 070549D xv
Then the main and alternative systems are joined together to supply the power to
consumers. Each feeder in the main lines busses are joined with a feeder from generator bus
bar through changeover switches and connected to the consumer through metering units.
The system could have optimized if the alternative system joined with the main lines
before the distribution bus bars. This will reduce the cost for individual changeover switches
and reduces the respond time. It improves the performance of the system.
We observed the main

control room. The bus bars
were double bus bars and the
meters were digital meters,
which were capable of
measuring the maximum
demand. In addition, there are
two measuring instruments,
which are capable of measuring
the power factors, Voltages,
Currents and reactive and
active powers for separate
phases. In order to improve the
power quality those parameters
were measured.
We observed the
generator too. It is a diesel
generator, which an engine
runs as the prime mover. It had
the following characteristics.
Figure 2.1-4 - Power system of Hemas building
Prime mover speed – 1500rpm
Rated Power - 512kW 565kW (stand by)
640kVA 706kVA (stand by)
Rated Current 924A 1019A (stand by)
S R M D T S WIJESEKARA | 070549D xvi

The generator is maintained by Trade Promoters Ltd. Sri Lanka.
The CEB prepares two separate bills to the two sides of the building. The billing details
relevant to December 2009 are given below.
Table 2.1-1 - Hemas Building Electricity Expenditures
For Bristol street Cost – Rs For York Street Cost – Rs

kWh 57900 700902 kWh 35371 488119.80
kVA 242 181500 kVA 202 151500
Total 882402 Total 639619.80
Total 1522021.80
This amount is divided among the consumers according to their usage. Eusifully Trust
staff does this billing. Energy meters belong to each consumer is placed in the control room.
According to the above data, Eusifully Trust pays about 333,000 LKR for the reactive
power. And also the power factor of the building is about 0.2 due to the usage of the air
conditions and florescent lamps. We took the readings of the power factor. To save that
expenditure and improve the system performance, it is willing to install a capacitor bank in
the building. We met Mr. Lalith Athugoda, who has a contract about the improvements of the
building electrical system on this matter. According to his calculations about 1 million LKR
will be spent to install the capacitor bank. Through this the power factor could be improved
up to 0.85. The cost for the installation of the capacitor bank could be recovered within 2
years and the profits could be gained from the third year. The capacitor bank is scheduled to
install in 2011.
On the third day of the training we were attend to a trip switch testing of the building,
which is conducted to improve the safety of the building. The testing is scheduled for once
three months. We attend to the tests with Mr. Vajira.
There are three tests were done in the testing procedure; No-trip, rated trip and fast trip.
It uses an instrument called RCCB digital tester to conduct the tests, which facilitates to all
above tests. As the first step of the testing procedure, the power is cut off from the main
switch. Then the tester is attached to the bus bars. Then, for the given currents, the respond
time of the trip switch is checked. In no-trip the trip switch should not operate and in the fast
trip test the trip switch should operate immediately.
S R M D T S WIJESEKARA | 070549D xvii

In the beginning of the 2nd week, we presented a presentation about the electrical system
of hemas building.
1.4.2 Mini Hydro Plants

We learnt about the mini hydro plants in the first week onward.
The hydro plants, which the power generation is below 10MW and above 1MW, are
roughly categorized into the category, Mini Hydro Plants. This kind of power plants is
generally considered as a most cost effective and reliable power producing power plants.
Because,
• Mini hydro power plant uses the kinetic energy of the flowing water to
produce the power. Therefore, the fuel cost for this kind of plant is nil. And also the
source is renewable. Therefore, the risk of lacking the fuel is minimum.
• This kind of pants are not releases the green house gasses or any kind of
hazarders gas. This will improve the environmental friendliness.
• In hydro power plants, the efficiency is high (about 70%-90%) relative to the
other power producing technologies.
• The power of the power plant varies with the water flow of the river. The
water flow varies with the annual rainfall. Therefore, the predictability of this kind of
power plants is high relative to the other renewable power producing technologies.
• The water flow of a river varies slowly in most cases. So, the power output
varies slowly. Therefore, the power output is said to be stable in this kid of power
plants. So, the reliability is relatively above to the other renewable power producing
technologies. And also, the plant could be designed to meet a higher plant factor.
In hydro power plants, the power is generated using the kinetic energy of a water flow.
This energy could be mentioned using the head and flow terms
P=ρgQH
By including the efficiency, the power output could be presented.
P=ηρgQH
S R M D T S WIJESEKARA | 070549D xviii
Therefore, the parameters of the hydropower generation are head (H), Flow (Q) and
Efficiency (η). By matching those parameters in an appropriate power generating technology,
the mini hydro plants are designed.
The structure of a mini hydro scheme is slightly different from the other hydro plants.
In most cases, these power plants are run-off-river type. That means the water storage of this
kind of scheme is minimum. A mini hydro plant could be designed to either divert the water
flow and run the plant or construct the plant in the river. Canal and penstock type could be
taken as an example for the diversion type and Barrage type and Syppen type could be taken
for the non-Diversion type. When there is a sufficient head, the diversion type is used.
Construction in this type is relatively easier than the non-Diversion type. In Sri Lanka,
because of the commonness of the sites, diversion type mini hydro plants are common. All
the mini hydro plants belong to Hemas Power are Diversion type.
The components of the mini hydro plant
A sketch of a waterway of a mini hydro plant is shown in fig 2.1.
• Weir – The water flowing in

the river is collected to a
small reservoir
• Inlet – the water collected in

the reservoir is diverted to
the channel. In most of the
times, there is a gate to
control the inlet.
• Channel – The water, which

is diverted from the weir, is
carried to the forebay tank.
The channel could be an
open channel, a closed Figure 2.1-5
channel and a combination of both. In most cases, the filtering methods like
trash rack and desilting tank are placed in the channel. By the trash racks the
heavy floating parts like plant parts, which is coming with the water, is collected
and by desilting tank the heavy particles like sand are collected.
S R M D T S WIJESEKARA | 070549D xix
• Forebay Tank – The water carried through the channel is collected to the
forebay tank. The water flow relative to the water storage in the channel is
relatively high. So, in a sudden stop, the water is collected in the forebay tanks
and channel. The excess water is spilled from the banks. To create a safe way to
exit the excess water the spillways are constructed. The spillways are placed in
the forebay tank and in the channel.
• Penstock – The water, which is coming through the forebay tank, is carried to
the turbine creating a high head difference and high kinetic energy. Duo to the
sudden variations of the flow in stopping and starting, heavy pressure currents
could be generated through the penstock. To survive those currents, the penstock
is usually made by steel.
• Turbine – The turbine is the most important part of the waterway of the mini
hydro plant. It converts the kinetic energy of the water flow to kinetic energy of
the coupled shaft.
• Tailrace – The water, which is used by the turbine, is released to the river
through the tailrace.
The electrical system is consists the following components.
• Generator – The kinetic energy of the rotating shaft is converted to the electrical
energy by the generator. Typically, the output voltage of a generator varies from
400V to 15kV. The synchronous type generators are generally used in mini
hydro plants.
• Breaker s and bus bars – The breakers and bus bars too installed in the system to
provide the protection and reliability.
• Transformer – The transformers are used to convert the power from generator
output voltage to transmission voltage (33kV in Sri Lanka). Generally, the
number of transformers is equal to the number of generators units.
• Measuring instruments - to measure the power output from the plant, an Energy
meter is installed.
S R M D T S WIJESEKARA | 070549D xx
1.4.3 Designing a mini hydro plant

We learned the procedure of designing a mini hydro plant.
The first step of designing a mini hydro plant is selecting the site. In this, the flow of the
river and the head could be gain is considered. As the primary need, a place, which could
gain a head as high as possible, is selected. The place should have the higher head with a
maximum slope, because, when the slop is high, the length of the penstock becomes low.
Therefore, the loss in the penstock reduces. Furthermore, the ability to carry water to the
selected area is checked too. This means, there should be a point to tap the river, which is
above in height, to the highest point of the selected area.
Then a place to build the weir should be select. In this, the ability to carry a sufficient
amount of water to the plant is considered. If the tapping point is lower in height to the
selected designed penstocks highest point, the ability to bring the water to the penstock
becomes impossible. If the tapping point is very high, the flow is become low and due to the
slope, the channel will washout. So the tapping point is selected slightly above the penstock
start. In this tapping point, a weir is build and diverted to the plant site.
As the second step, the flow of the river in the tapping point is measured. In measuring
the flow of the river, two criteria could be used. First criteria is measure the cross section and
the speed of the river at the tapping point. In this method, the instant accurate flow could be
measured. However, gathering hydrology data about a long period like a year is difficult. In
this case, an approximate method is used.
In this method, the catchment area of the river for the tapping point is calculated. The
area, which the rainfall collects to the given point of a river, is simply referred as the
catchment area. The area is selected using maps of the area. The hydrology data about the
rainfall is collected then. Through this rainfall data, a fair rainfall model along the year could
be developed. Then the catchment area is divided to the areas according to the manner of the
environment like forest cover and the appearance of the soil. Then the rainfall is multiplied
by the sub areas of the catchment area weighted by the factor, which represents the amount of
S R M D T S WIJESEKARA | 070549D xxi

water collected to the river per unit rainfall and get the sum of the flows. From this method,
an annual hydrograph is created.
In annual hydrograph (Figure 3.1),

the day-by-day flow variation Vs the day
of the year is plotted. However, in
designing process, to calculate the energy
and other facts, the annual hydrograph is
not sufficient. Therefore, the Flow
Duration Curve (Figure 3.2) is plotted. In
this graph, the flow Vs the number of
days which the floe is available is
plotted. This curve is more useful in
Figure 2.2-6 - Annual Hydrograph
choosing the design flow.
We were given an assignment to

study the flow duration curve and create
a program to calculate the critical
parameters for various design flows.
Figure 2.2-7 - Flow Duration Curve 1.4.3.1Criteria
In diverting the water flow, an amount of water is released to go through the natural
river for environmental and ecological reasons. This flow is called the compensation flow or
by-pass flow. In energy calculation, this flow is subtracted from the flow duration curve.
Then, for few design flows, the following calculations were done.
1. Plant factor- the term ‘plant factor’ is referred to the portion of the annual
energy output to the produced energy output.
S R M D T S WIJESEKARA | 070549D xxii

Plant factor = Energy generated per year
Maximum output * 8760
This could be converted to the terms related to the flow duration curve as
follows.
Plant factor = Area under the FDC and resign flow
Area under the design flow
2. Excedance – The term ‘excedance’ is referred to the portion of the number of

days, which the plant could be operated in full load, to the number of days the
plant operated.
Excedance = full load operated days
Plant operated days
This could simply extracted by taking the point, which the FDC and design flow
is intersected.
3. Annual energy output- the annual energy output could be calculated using the
area under the FDC and design flow.
Annual energy output = η ρ g H × Area under curve × 86400
By optimizing the above values with the cost for the equipments and project, the
design flow is selected.
We modeled the above criteria in a MATLAB Program. In it, for different design
flows, the plant factor, excedance and the annual energy is calculated. The efficiencies of
different turbines are different. To make the calculation fairer, the turbine type is too taken as
an input. The MATLAB program has been attached as the annex 1
S R M D T S WIJESEKARA | 070549D xxiii

Then using the above flow and head, the turbine is selected. We were given an
assignment to understand the turbine selection criteria and create a program to select the
turbine according to the flow and head.
Turbines
In hydropower generation, there are two types of turbines are used; impulse type and
reaction type. In impulse type, high-speed water jets are used to run the turbines. In reaction
type, the pressure difference of the input and output is used to run the turbine. In mini
hydropower schemes, the following turbines are used.
• Pelton – Pelton wheel is an impulse type turbine. In this turbine, water-jets are
directly focused to the buckets of the turbine. This turbine is suitable for the
high head low flow applications.
• Turgo – Turgo turbine is too an impulse type turbine. In this turbine, water-
jets are placed slightly angled from the wheels plane. This turbine is used in
high and medium head applications.
• Francis – This is a reaction type turbine. This is used in medium head

applications. In Sri Lanka the sites with medium head is common. So these
kinds of turbines are widely used in Sri Lanka.
• Crossflow – This is an impulse type turbine; but used in low head high flow
applications. When the plant is constructed as non-diversion plant, this turbine
is used.
• Propeller – These turbines are used in low head turbines. This is a reaction
type turbine and like a propeller in the boats in shape. The water flow is
moving in the shafts axis direction in this turbine.
• Kaplan – This turbine is too a reaction type turbine. It is used in low head
applications.
S R M D T S WIJESEKARA | 070549D xxiv
Figure 2.2-8 - Turbine Efficiency Curve Figure 2.2-9 Turbine Selection Chart
The efficiency variation of the turbines with the flow percentage is plotted in the fig
To fulfill the assignment, we created a MATLAB program (m file) based on an

algebraic method. The relevant m file is attached as the annex 2-a. But in evaluation the
program, it malfunctioned. So, our training engineer gave us a graphical method, which
Hemas power uses as a source, and the relevant chart. Therefore, we modeled the chart to a
MATLAB m file. The relevant MATLAB files are attached as the annex-2 and annex-3
While after those selections, the projects feasibilities were evaluated. In this, the
following facts are considered.
• Summery – in this section a quick representation of the following chapters are

given. Furthermore, all the key data and the comparisons with the other energy
options are described.
• Environmental impact analysis – in this chapter, the environmental impacts

could be occurred is discussed. Generally, the information about the living
creatures of the site area, the methodology used in the survey relevant to
environment and other environmental factors are considered. Furthermore, the
bypass release is too decided in this chapter.
• Socio-economic viability – in this chapter the social and economical states of

the people who are living in relevant site area is discussed. Furthermore, the
impact of the living style of the relevant people is too described.
• Hydrology analysis – In this, the hydrological analysis is included. The flow

analysis method, flow analysis data and the energy calculation results are
represented in this chapter.
• Cost/profit analysis – in this chapter, the economical analysis about the costs
and profits are described.
• Component details – in this chapter, the equipment provider details, all the
equipment details and the cost analysis is included. Furthermore, the details
about the quotations considered and the reasons for the selection are too
described.
S R M D T S WIJESEKARA | 070549D xxv

• Annexes – relevant materials like the rainfall data, the Flow Duration Curve,
the site maps and the reports taken from the relevant authorities and analyzers
are attached to the
During the training period, we had the chance to refer the feasibility report of
Giddawa project.
1.4.4 Trash rack design

In the 7th week, I was given an assignment to design a trash rack for the Thalawakale
power plant (Senok Mark Hydro)
The filter, which is used to filter the large floating parts in the water, is called the
trash rack. As a practice, the trash racks are designed fitting bars vertically to a frame. So
then the trashes remain could remove using the rakes.
The trash rack whish was to design, was supposed to be placed in the desilting tank.
The following data was given,
• The dimension of the channel – to calculate the cross section of the

flow.
• The dimension of the desilting tank.
• The width of the bars of the trash rack.
• The width should be kept in the holes of the trash rack
• 20% extra space from the cross section of the channel for make the
flow continues and 150 angles.
• The medium height of the water flow.
S R M D T S WIJESEKARA | 070549D xxvi

As the first step, I modeled the site area in AutoCAD, and measured the effective
cross section area of the channel (A). Then the effective cross section of the trash rack will be
120% into (A)
Effective cross section of the trash rack (Atr) = A × 1.2
Thos is the cross section of the holes. Therefore, the effective cross section of the
trash rack would be the Atr into width of a hole and a bar over width of a hole. In here the
effect of the angled edges are neglected.
Under water cross section of the trash rack (AUw) = A × 1.2 × (Wh+ Wb)/ Wh
Then, a plane of an angle 150 to the z direction is drawn in the AutoCAD file and the
intersection cross section area was taken for few places in the trash rack. Then the place
which gives the AUw was found and decided it as the proper place to place the trash rack. The
drawing of the assignment is attached as the annex 4
1.4.5 Financial Structure of a company and evaluation for acquire a

company.
We met Mr. Ravi, who is the economist of Hemas Power, to learn about the financial
structure of a company. He learnt us about the power business, capital structures of a
company and the economic evaluation for an acquirement of a company.
There are two kinds of capital collection methods; Lendership and ownership. The
lendership is referred to the investments with an interest. In this relationship, the investor is
not having any ownership to the capital and company and the invested money should be paid
with a fixed interest. The ownership is referred to the investment, which makes the investor
own a part of the profit and a risk. In calculating the profits, the share of the landership is
S R M D T S WIJESEKARA | 070549D xxvii

taken as a liability and subtracted from the gross profit. Then a share for the future usage is
saved and the rest is divided among the owners. These decisions are taken by the board of
directors.
In acquiring a company, an economic evaluation is done. While after getting known

that a company is about to sell, the financial state and the future revenues are evaluated and
the revenues are projected to the present value. Then the cost of equity is evaluated. The cost
of equity reflects the opportunity cost of the purchase. The cost of equity could be evaluated
by the following equation.
Cost of equity = riskless rate + premium factor × risk factor
If the cost of equity is lower than the forecasted present value of the company, the
purchasing is viable.
In power purchasing by CEB, they create an account for the power plan, not the
owner. This will simplify the accountings of the CEB side. Se the power plants should be
registered as individual companies by law. Then the payments for the power purchasing are
paid for the individual power plant. And also, the changes of the managements are not
affected to the CEB procedure. Because of the power plants are considered as companies,
acquiring a company is relevant to the field.
1.4.6 Gidddawa mini hydro power plant
Giddawa mini hydro plant is the first renewable power plant, which started by Hemas
Power. The site is located at the village called Giddawa in Theldeniya, Kandy. This is the
fourth cascade placed power mini hydro plant in the river. Followings are the details relevant
to the power plant.
S R M D T S WIJESEKARA | 070549D xxviii

Gramasewaka division – Ambalagala & Giddawa
Divisional secretarial division – Theldeniya
Pradeshiya Sabha – Mada Dumbada
Provincial council – Central Province (Kandy)
The gross head of the power plant is 27m and the net head is 26.3m. The rated
discharge is 4.3m3/s. In the 10th week I was given a chance to get training in this plant for a
week in plant training. I was given an assignment to prepare a maintenance schedule for the
plant. About that assignment will be described in a later chapter.
The plant is constructed crossing the river ‘Hulu Ganga’. A weir is constructed
crossing the river about 800m above the plant area. It is 15m in long and 2m in height. The
weir is constructed using rocks and concrete. There is a bypass to keep the river live. The
channel is constructed in the left bank of the weir. The intake is constructed in a left most
position of the weir.
The channel is constructed

through the left bank. It is 2m high
and 3m wide. The length of the
channel is about 800m. The inlet gate
is constructed about 20m after the
intake. And a desilting tank is Figure 2.5-10 - Waterway of Giddawa MHP
constructed in the middle of the channel. Its

dimensions are 3m × 4m × 6m. There is a spill
way in the desilting tank and a gate to remove
the sands is placed in the bottom. A trash rack
is too placed in the end of the tank.
In the end of the channel, the forebay

tank is placed. It is 6m wide, 8m high and 9m
long. There are two spillways placed in the
forebay tank. The spillway in the tank is the
first designed spillway. But it couldn’t be able
to provide enough space for the whole spill in a
S R M D T S WIJESEKARA | 070549D xxix

sudden stop. So a spillway outside the forebay was constructed. There is a sand gate similar
to the desilting tank is placed in the end of the forebay tank. There is a trash rack too.
In the end of the forebay tank, two penstocks were placed. The penstocks are 70m
long. They are 1.5m in diameter and 12mm in thickness, steel. From the penstock the water is
transferred to the two horizontal spiral Francis turbines. Through this two synchronous
generators were driven. The rates speed of the turbine is 500 rpm and manufactured by
Gugler Hydro Energy, Australia. The rated output of the turbine is 1012kVA.A hydraulic
system, which is coupled with a weight, is used as the auto-closing method of the guide
vanes. Then the used water is released to the river through the tailrace.
The generator is a 12 pole salient pole Figure 2.5-11 - Electrical System of

Giddawa MHP
rotor synchronous generator. The technical
details of the generator are given below.
• Rated power – 1150kVA • Output voltage – 400V

• Power factor – 0.85 • Excitation – 90V 3.6A brushless
• Rated current – 1160A excitation.
S R M D T S WIJESEKARA | 070549D xxx

Figure 2.5-3 GHP Weir Figure 2.5-4 - GHP channel
Figure 2.5-5 - GHP Forebay Tank Figure 2.5-6 - GHP Electrical Equipments
Figure 2.5-7 - GHP tail race Figure 2.5-8 - GHP Penstock

The power output of the generators is then transferred to the transformer through
breakers. There are two 1250kVA transformers are placed in the plant. Through this the power is
transformed to 33kV. Then the transformer outputs are connected to a bus bar through breakers.
These breakers are the ones, which were closed in synchronization. Then the bus bar output is
sent to the national grid through a 33kV transmission line. An energy meter is coupled with the
line through a Current Transformer. From this the power output and the reactive power usage is
measured.
The transmission line is proposed to connect the Theldeniya gantry. But currently the line
is connected to a feeder of the Karandeniya gantry.
1.4.6.1Experience in plant
I reported to the power plant about 12.30pm on Monday. I started to refer the manuals of
the power plants components in the evening.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, I studied about the waterway system and the other systems
of the power plant, the hierarchy of the staff and the works done by those staff members. And
also I gathered the information for the assignment of preparing a maintenance schedule.
The staff of the power plant is consisting one plant supervisor, four plant operators and
eight labors. All of the staff is lived nearby the plant area except supervisor.
The supervisor; Mr. Pramathilaka, controls and supervises the plant. The administration
part is completely done by the supervisor. The plant operators are worked in an 8-hour shift
manner. The shifts are changed at 6am, 2pm and 10pm. The operations of the power plant
machinery are completely done by the plant operators. The maintenance of the power plant is
done by the labors under the supervision of the supervisor or operator. And also, the cleaning of
the plant is done by the labors. They also worked in a shift schedule, two personals in a one shift.
Dering my training in Giddawa; I attended to the works done by operators. I

synchronized a generator once tripped due to the phase shift failure. I got the readings of the
power output, reactive power input and power factors. I got the opportunity to attend few night
shifts with the power plant operators.
Moreover, I studied the works done by labors. I attended to clean the trash racks twice.
1.4.6.2Teamwork – leadership development program.
In Thursday, there was a teamwork and leadership development program in the plant.
The program was organized by Hemas Power, to develop the leadership and mutual
understanding of the staff of Giddawa hydro power plant. The program was conducted by
corporate training division, Academy of Adventure, Belihul Oya. I was too had the chance to
attend to this function.
The function was conducted as a one-day course. The whole staff was divided into two
groups as about six personalities per group. Both the groups had to go through the activities and
complete them. There were eight challenges and are focused on the abilities like self confidence,
commitment, leadership. The tasks had named as team building, trust challenge, lava crossing,
magical turtle, key punch, human knot and blind walk. Those activities were focused on
developing different attitudes and abilities on the staff of the power plant. The concentration,
mutual understanding and the strategy were became the essential abilities in this tasks. That
experience was a real fun. The certificate, I was given for the participation is attached as the
annex 5
In the last day of the Giddawa, Mr.

Premathilaka thought me about the power
distribution system around the Theldeniya
area. And the power flow of the power
plant. I was given the chance to travel
around the Theldeniya area and see the
Karandeniya gantry and Rajawaka Air
Break Switch. A single line diagram of the
area is shown in the figure 4
Figure 2.5-9 Single line diagram of Theldeniya

1.4.6.3Review Distribution Area
The plant is facing a large difficulty in the incoming water flow. The forest cover in a
part of the catchment area has been removed few years back. So the water flow is not regular
throughout the day and sudden water flows are generated at the rains in the upper part of the
river. So the controlling has become difficult and due to the large spill out in the sudden flows,
the energy is wasted. Due to that, the plant factor has been reduced to the designed value.
Furthermore, the plant output is connected to a feeder. So the voltage fluctuations and phase
shifting are generated. This has made the increase of the number of tripping in the plant. The
plant is a run-off-river type one and for each tripping the water is spilled from the forebay tank.
This makes a huge energy waste.
Throughout the week, I was given the chance to stay in the plant in the night as well as
the day. Through this I had the chance to learn about their duties in the plant, their lifestyle, and
there relationship with the power plant. The villagers are deeply bounded with the power plant in
the re lifestyle. And the power plant administration and Hemas itself too became more helpful
for the villagers, and tries to improve the living condition of the villagers through the social
servicing activities like improve the conditions of the village school. And also, because of the
plant, the sudden floods generated have been limited.
Furthermore, I observed that the staff working hard to do their duties as best as possible.
They extremely cared about the power plant. And also, became more helpful for the visitors too.
I should be more thankful for the plant staff for helping me out in letting me get experiences and
helping me out in various ways throughout the week.
1.4.7 Maintenance schedule
I was given an assignment to create a maintenance schedule for Giddawa power plant in
the 9th week of the training. As the first step of the assignment, I gathered the information about
the mini hydro plants, the components using in the plants and the maintenance of the
components. Then I organized the information found. End of the week, I gave a presentation on
the assignment progress – the gathered information about the maintenance of the mini hydro
plants.
In the week, which I was in Giddawa, the maintenances which are conducted by the staff
were gathered. The information gathered before the Giddawa week was mainly based on the
electrical and mechanical equipments. The information about the civil constructions like the weir
and channel, are gathered during the in plant training.
Then I combined the maintenance in a schedule such that, not to be clash with each other.
And matched them with the appropriate period, for example cleaning the tanks are not scheduled
in the wet period.
And also I gathered the information about the safety of the personals who is doing the
maintenance.
As the final presented item, I had to prepare a booklet for the maintenance and the
maintenance schedule. The booklet is attached as annex 6
1.5 Ceylon Electricity Board
During the CEB Training period, we had to gather knowledge about power generation
and transmission. The Distribution is supposed to be covered in the Lanka Electricity Company
period. We had the chance to attend five training places during eight weeks period covering two
regions; Generation and Transmission.
We got the training schedule for the CEB training period as follows
Period Training area Place

03/05/2010 – 14/05/2010 Transmission Pannipitiya, Kotuoda,
Operation & Maintenance Veyangode & Kolonnawa GSS
17/05/2010 – 11/06/2010 *LECO
14/06/2010 – 25/06/2010 Hydro Power Samanalawewa Power
Generation Station
28/06/2010 – 09/07/2010 Thermal Power Kalanithissa Power Station,
Generation Kalanithissa Combine Cycle
Plant.
12/07/2010 – 16/07/2010 Generation Generation Planning Branch,
Planning and design CEB Head Office, Colombo.
branch
19/07/2010 – 23/07/2010 System Control CEB, Kent road,
Center Dematagoda.
Table 2.6-2.1 - CEB training schedule * the LECO period. Not relevant to this
section
From this, Hydro Power Generation and Thermal Power Generation are belonging to
Generation section and Transmission, Operation & Maintenance, System Control Center and
Generation Planning & design branch are belonging to Transmission section. To make it clear,
the chapters about the CEB Training is organized as in section relevant manner, instead of the
order of attend.
1.5.1 Hydro Power Generation – Samanalawawa Power Station.

Samanalawewa Power Station is a most important power plant in Sri Lankan power
generation. It generates and releases a 120MW maximum power generation to the national grid.
And it is the largest power producer in the southern part of the power grid. The plant is placed in
Walawe basin and operated using the water which is collected at Samanalawewa, in Balangoda
area. The construction of the power plant was started in 1989 and it was commissioned in 1994.
The plant is operated under the Deputy General Manager (DGM) of other hydro complex. The
plant is located at Hapugala, Balangoda. We had the opportunity to attend and learn about the
power station and the systems and operations through these two weeks.
1.5.1.1The waterway
The Samanalawewa reservoir is built by building a dam crossing the Walawe River at
Pambahinna. The reservoir is fed from Diyawini oya and Katupath oya, which are the branches
of the Walawe River. The dam is 107m in height and 500m in length. And it is clay core rock
filled type dam. It is having three spillways with radial gates placed on it .The gross storage of
the reservoir is about 274× 106 m3. The reservoir is designed to spill at 460 m above MSL. But
due to the leak in the right bank, now a decision to spill the reservoir at 455 m above MSL has
been taken.
The intake, which is used to take the water to the powerhouse, is located about 5.5kms
away from the dam site. The intake structure includes a screen to filter the water and two
hydraulic controlled gates; the control gate and the emergency gate. The minimum intake water
level of the reservoir is 424 m above MSL. And the live storage capacity is 215 × 106 m3
Through the intake the water is entered to the power tunnel. The power tunnel is a
horseshoe type 5.35km long tunnel and it is having a slope about 1:100. The diameter of the
tunnel is 4.5m. The power tunnel is ended with the surge chamber. It is about 12m high from the
ground level and about 18m in diameter.
The surge chamber is connected with the portal valve house through a steel tunnel. Due
to this steel structure, the damage to the tunnel in a sudden trip becomes minimum. The
waterway is divided into two from the portal valve house. There are two Butterfly valves placed
in this valve house, for the two outlets of the water. One outlet of the portal valve house is
currently blocked and kept for the future expansion of the plant and the other outlet is connected
to a penstock.
The penstock is about 670m in length and made with steel. The elevation of the penstock
is about 364m. The internal diameter varies from 3.85m to 2.85m on the bottom. The penstock is
divided to two in the end and supplied the water to the two turbines through spherical type
valves. The valves are operated by high pressure oil servo motor with weigh assisted closure.
The diameter of the inlet valve is 1500mm and the designed pressure is about 440m. There is a
by-pass valve with the diameter of 200m to equalize the pressures of the both sides of the valve
before open the valve.
The turbines are spiral case vertical Francis type. The rated output of the turbine is
70200kW when operating at the net head of 320m. The speed of the motor is 500rpm. The guide
vanes are operated by a ring which is coupled with two servo mechanisms governed by
hydroelectric governor system. The water used by the turbines is then released to the Walawe
river trough the tailrace.
1.5.1.2The electrical system
There are two vertical shafted salient pole 3 phase generators which are driven by the two
Francis turbines. The rated output is 60MW and the output voltage is 10.5kV. The power factor
of the turbine is 0.85 and the rated speed is 500rpm. The output of the generator is carried to the
transformer through isolated phase busbars (IBPS) filled with dry air. It was tapped to take the
power to the excitation system and the auxiliary system.
Then the power generated by the generators is transformed to transmission voltage

(132kV) through two three phase 10.5/138 kV transformers. They are rated at 71MVA. The
tapings of the transformer are manually operated. The windings are oil cooled and the cooling is
classifies as ONAN/ONAF.
The power transformed to 132kV is then send to the switchyard. There is a UI bus bar
system is placed in Samanalawewa Power Station switchyard. To save the space and create a
reliable system the bus system is constructed in that manner. The two double circuit transmission
lines from Balangode & Embilipitiya and the two generator outputs are connected to the
switchyard. The bus bars are coupled using a bus coupler.
The auxiliary of the power plant is provided in three ways. As the primary method two
unit transformers are used. The power output of the generators are tapped and converted to
400V. In the power plant not operated situations, the power is taken through a 33kV feeder from
Balangode GSS. If it’s also not possible, the diesel generator placed in the plant is used. The all
auxiliary supplies are gathered to a busbar with interlocking to each other.
The excitations of the generators are done using excitation transformers and thyristor
banks. There is a battery bank placed as the back-up method of excitation.
The S’wawa is become more famous because of the leak in its right bank. Due to the
composition of the soil in the reservoir area, an amount of water collected to the reservoir is
leaked through the right bank of the dam. The leaking rate is about 2.5m3/s. The water is leaked
through the mountain and collected inside the mountain. Then this water leaves the mountain
from a single place in the right bank. The leak is used as an irrigation outlet to the Kalthota area.
We reported to S’wawa power station in 14th June about 2.00pm. We met Mr. Sepala
Karunasena, who was the chief engineer of the S’wawa plant. He gave us a presentation about
the S’wawa power station and gave us a schedule to be followed in next two weeks. In the
second day we visited to the sections of the power plant and learned about the important
components of the power plant. In the third day we visited to the switchyard and learnt about the
electrical system in S’wawa. The following is a brief description about S’wawa power scheme.
In Friday we had the chance to attend a routine maintenance of the unit two. These kinds
of maintenances are conducted once a month for a unit. In this, the following inspections and
maintenances are done.
1. A visual inspection is done for the inlet valves, the turbine outside, the cooling
water pumps, hydraulic systems and all the pumping systems in the power plant,
for cracks, leaks or any other troublesome situations.
2. The outside of the components are cleaned for dust.
3. The cover of the generators are removed and the parts inside are cleaned for the
dust.
4. A visual inspection for the components like breaking pads and the excitation
brushes are done.
During the maintenance, we had the chance to inspect the components of the hydraulic
and waterway systems. And also we had the chance to go inside the generator and identify the
parts of the generator.
1.5.1.3Fire Protection
In Monday of the next week we learned about the safety procedures and the fire
protection schemes. As the fire protection of the generator there is a CO2 bank placed in the
power plant. When a fire is occurred in the generator the bank is actuated by the heat detector
sensors which are placed in the generator inside. Then, the generator is filled with the CO 2. In
maintenances the bank is deactivated through a manual interlocking system.
As the fire protection in the transformer, a high pressure water injection system is placed.
When a fire is occurred the sensors are actuated and a high pressure water jets are injected to the
transformer.
1.5.1.4Emergency
In an emergency, all the staff is trained to leave the building through the front door. There
were many path marks to identify the way t o leave the building. And also there are fire fighter
materials placed in the most suitable places around the power house. And also there are
emergency tripping switches are placed around the generator. An emergency drill is take place in
the plant every year.
1.5.1.5Dam site
In Wednesday we had a chance to visit the S’wewa dam site and Intake. In this visit, we
observed the intake, the Dam and the Barges – the boats used in wet blanketing. We also had the
chance to visit the tunnels used to take the readings of the pressures inside the right bank, and to
see the leak.
1.5.2 Kalanithissa Power Station & Kalanithissa Combine Cycle Power
Plant.
As the 9th and 10th weeks of the training second half, we had the chance to attend and
learn about Kalanithissa power plants. The first week is for the Kalanithissa Power Station and
the second week for Kalanithissa Combined Cycle Power Plant.
Kalanithissa Power Plant, which is commonly known as KPS, is located in Paliyagoda,

Colombo. This is a major thermal power plant belong to CEB. The installed capacity of the
power plant is 215MW. This power plant is considered to be a key power station in blackout
situations. In blackouts, the KPS are taken to the system and the Colombo area is powered as an
individual unit.
1.5.2.1Gas turbines
KPS is having six frame-5 gas turbines and one Feat gas turbine, which is similar to
frame 9 in size and capacity. The frame 5 GTs commonly known as small GTs are having the
rated capacity of 20MW, a small GT has been out of operation for a long time, and dissembled.
We had the chance to observe the parts of this GT. A special feature of this GTs is that, it can
operate in the synchronous compensator mode.
1.5.2.2Synchronous compensator mode
The synchronous compensator is a component, which consumes the reactive power and
releases reactive power. In GT’s case, this term refers to the no-load running of the generator. To
bring the generator to the sync. comp. mode the following procedure is followed; first the
generator is started and brought to the full speed. Then the generator is synchronized to the
system. Then the power input of the generator is reduced by decreasing the fuel input. At this
time, the generator is started to run using the power in the system. Due to the special gear
system, which is used in the GT, between the turbine and the Generator, the turbine is
disengaged from the generator and the generator started to run as a synchronous motor. In this
state, by varying the excitation current, the reactive power could be generated.
The Feat GT is a gas turbine which is having a rated capacity of 115MW. The unit cost of
this GT is about 26 LKR/kWh while the small GTs are having a unit cost about 40 LKR/kWh.
There were two 25MW steam turbines in KPS and they were out of operation since 2003.
1.5.2.3Switchyard
The switchyard in KPS is having the both 132kV and 33kV. The small GTs except GT1,
are connected to the 33kV busbar through 10.5/33kV transformers. The 33kV busbar is a bus
section type. The GT1 and the GT7 are connected to the 132 busbar through 10.5/132kV
transformers. This busbar is a UI type busbar system. The 633kV busbar is connected to the
132kV busbar through 33/132 kV inter bus transformer. The power generated in KPS is
transferred to the Kolonnawa through 132kV double circuit transmission line and to Biyagama
through 220kV double circuit transmission line. The Biyagama lines are connected to the
switchyard through 220/132kV step-down transformers and a gas insulated substation.
As the second week in the thermal generation we had the opportunity to visit and learn
about the Kalanithissa combined Cycle power station. The full capacity of the power plant is
165MW; 110MW from Gas turbine and 55MW from steam turbine.
The gas turbine of the KCCP can use diesel or naphtha as the fuel. But in the starting,
only diesel is used as the fuel. The energy in the exhaust is used as the source to the steam
turbine. The exhaust is dent through the Heat Recovery Steam Generator (HRSG). The energy in
the exhaust is then transferred to the steam carried through the HRSG, in two stages. Low
pressure and high pressure steam. This steam will be sent through the turbines. The high pressure
steam is sent through the high pressure turbine and the low pressure steam and used high
pressure steam is sent through the low pressure turbine. The high pressure turbine runs at
9000rpm and the low pressure turbine runs at 3000rpm. The low pressure turbine is directly
coupled to the generator shaft and the high pressure turbine is coupled using a gear system. Then
the generator shaft speed becomes 3000rpm. The used steam is condensed in the condenser and
reused to generate the steam. The output of the high pressure turbine is 25MW and the low
pressure turbine is 30MW.
Because of the combined cycle uses the exhaust energy, energy to be wasted is saved. So,
the efficiency increases. The unit cost of the power plant with the steam turbine is about 16 to 18
LKR. But, when the plant runs without the steam turbine, the unit cost increases to 26 to 28LKR.
1.5.2.4Water Treatment
KCCP uses the water from the Kalani River for the usages like generate stream and
cooling water. The water pumped from the Kalani River are treated and made up before use.
Following steps are used in this process.
As the first step Cl is applied to the water. This chlorine is generated using the sea water.
NaCl + H2O NaOCl + H2

Electrolysis
Then Al2(SO4)3 and NaOH is applied to the water. Al2(SO4)3 is generated by reacting a
conjugant aid and an amid. through this the Al(OH)3 is generated.
Al2(SO4)3 + 6NaOH 3Na2SO4 + 2Al(OH)3
With this Al(OH)3 precipitate an amount of suspended particles are removed from the
water. Through this the water is purifies to meet 5NTU.
This water is then filtered using pressure filters (3NTU) and multimedia filters (2NTU).
Then to remove the excess chlorine NahSO4 is applied. To remove the ions, the water is send
through Reverse Osmosis Membranes. From this the conductivity of the water is meet 100µSs-1.
Then the water is sent through an ion exchange bed. From this, the anions and the cations
are replaced with H+ and OH-. After all of this procedure, to keep the ph amount to 9, NH4OH is
added.
1.5.3 Transmission Operation and Maintenance Branch
In the first two weeks of the training second half, we were assigned to Colombo region
in Transmission operation and maintenance branch for the training. During the period we had the
chance to visit the Pannipitiya, Kotugoda, Veyangoda and Kolonnawa grid substations.
In the third day of training, we went to the Pannipitiya GSS. Pannipitiya GSS is a GSS
which is having 220kV system, 132kV system 33kV system and a capacitor bank. This GSS is
one of the most important Grid Sub Stations.
The substation is connected to Biyagama GSS through a 220kV double circuit

transmission line. The incoming power through the 220kV line are taken to 220kV busbar and
transformed to 132kV through six singe phase auto transformers. The capacity of an
autotransformer is 83.3MVA and 500MVA is build together. Then it is fed to the 132kV busbar.
There are seven feeders connected to the 132kV busbar. Two double circuit transmission lines
from Kolonnawa and Ratmalana, two single circuit transmission lines from Horana and
Mathugama and an underground cable transmission line from Dehiwala.
The 132kV power is then transformed into 33kV through three 3-phase transformers. The
rating of the transformers is 90MVA. The transformed power is then carried to the 33kV GIS
(Gas Insulated Substation). From this GIS 12 feeders are taken out and two of them are
considered as the special feeders (Feeder 11 and 12). Then the power is taken to the outdoor
busbar. This is a special type of busbar. Any feeder could be connected to this busbar and also
have the ability to transfer the power without connecting to the busbar. If a failure is occurred in
the 33kV system, the outside busbar is used to feed the faulty feeder.
The autotransformers are coupled to create two 3-phase transformers. The 33kcv outputs
of the transformers are connected in delta configuration. The terminals of the delta are connected
to the capacitor bank. The capacitor bank is now out of operation.
In the next two weeks, we visited to the Kolonnawa GIS, Kotugoda GSS and Veyangoda
GSS. Throughout the week, we identified and observed the components of a grid substation.
1.5.3.1Circuit Breaker
To connect or disconnect power lines in either no-load or on-load conditions without

developing arcs, the breakers are used. In earlier systems, the Oil circuit Breakers are used. But
later they were replaced by the SF6 filled Circuit Breakers. The special reason to use this type of
breakers is, the high arc quenching property and insulation property of SF 6 gas under high
pressure. The breakers which are placed in 220kV switchyard at Pannipitiya are rated as 245kV.
The normal allowable current is 4000A and the breaking current is 50kA. The maximum
wording pressure of SF6 is 0.8 Pa.
1.5.3.2Isolators
Isolator is a mechanical switch which is operated in no load condition. This is an open

type switch and, it could be seen whether the isolator is open or closed physically. If an isolator
is operated in on-load condition, the arks could be generated. So, as a practice the isolators are
operated after the breaker. Most of the isolators are provided with an earthling switch in it. So, in
maintenance, the earthling could be too done through the isolator.
1.5.3.3Current transformers
The current transformers are generally used as a measuring instrument in the areas like
protection and measurement. In here the power line is used as the primary winding and a
secondary winding is created around the power line. The current generated in the secondary
winding is proportional to the current carrying through the power line. There might be multiple
cores used in different purposes, in a single CT. The secondary windings of a CT should always
in a closed circuit during the operation. Otherwise, the CT could be destroyed with huge blasts.
1.5.3.4Voltage Transformer
The voltage transformers, commonly known as VTs are generally used in protection and
instrumentation purposes, as a measuring instrument for voltage. One end of the primary
winding of VT is connected to the power line and the other end is connected to the ground. The
secondary winding is placed such that, the voltage is lower than the primary winding’s. One
terminal of the secondary winding too connected to the ground.
1.5.3.5Surge arrestors
Surge arrestors, which are commonly known as lightning arrestors are used in protection
from the higher voltage surges. As a practice this equipment is applied to protect the high
reliable and high cost equipments. As a practice, SAs are used in connection point of every
power line connected to the GSS and the both primary and secondary sides of the power
transformers.
1.5.3.6Bus bar
In power systems, the bus bars are acted as the modes or vertices of the network. There
are various kinds of busbars used in Grid substations. Single bus, double bus and main & transfer
bus could be taken as the examples. In double bus bar systems, bus couplers are used to connect
the busses. But in single bus systems, most of the time, bus sections are used.
1.5.3.7Carrier equipments
In the SCADA system, which is used by the CEB in communication, in PLC technology,
the Y phase is used as the communication line. This is called as Power Line Carrier system and
in this purpose the carrier equipments like wave trap and CVT are used.
Most of the switchgears of substations are built as outdoor open switchgears. But in the
situations where, there is no room for bulky switchgears, as a more reliable option, Gas Insulated
Substations are used. GIS is an indoor compacted model of switchgear, which is in a SF6 filled
environment. GIS are more reliable because, the maintenance of the switchgear is minimum and
the operation of this kind of switchgear is relatively easier than the outdoor switchgears. But, the
cost of this kind of assembly is relatively higher than the outdoor type.
1.5.4 System Control Centre
In controlling and keeping the Sri Lankan power system live, The System Control Center
ants a key role. It is established to conduct a safe and reliable service in power generation and
transmission. Through this the above areas are monitored and controlled. Mainly the following
tasks are performed by SCC. In the 12th training week of the second half, we had the chance to
attend and learn about the SCC and its main functions.
• Decide the power plants should be dispatched.
• Decide the amount of power should be supplied to the system by those power
plants individually.
• Monitor the parameters like voltage in the transmission lines and maintain them in
the acceptable limits.
• Schedule and monitor the maintenance of the system
Etc.
1.5.4.1The operation policies
In order to conduct a safe and reliable service, the operation policies for SCC are
declared. It includes the priority order, thermal and hydro dispatch guidelines, the voltage ranges
should be maintained in transmission lines and spinning reserve and maximum generation unit
guidelines.
1.5.4.2The load curve
The plot of the active and reactive power usage Vs time is considered as the load curve.
In CEB the load curve is plotted using the values, which are measured from the major power
stations. The special places like the night peak, the day peak, the morning peak and the off peak
could be easily identified in this curve. And also the \lifestyle of the Sri Lankan population is too
described using this plot. Using this plot, the power generation during the day could be
forecasted and planed.
1.5.4.3Voltage drop
If the voltage of a transmission end lies out of the acceptable range, it is said to be a
voltage outrange in the system. There are two kind of voltage outranges. Voltage drop and
voltage rise. Generally, when the load centers are located far away from the power stations
voltage outranges are occurred. When the inductive loads are connected to the system in a bulky
manner, with the power stations are far away, the voltage drops could be occurred. In this
situations, add reactive power to the system from power stations, improve the power factor using
the components like capacitor banks and static Var compensators and change the tap setting of
the transformers are the actions could be taken in this situations. When the transmission line is
too long and the delivering power is low, due to the capacitance of the transmission lines, the
voltage rises could be occurred. This effect is called the Ferranti effect. In these situations, the
reactive power injection to the transmission line is limited as much as possible. Furthermore, the
tap settings are changed to limit the consumer voltage to the acceptable limits. In our training
period in SCC, we had the chance to see a voltage drop in western area substations. In this
period, the hydropower generation is maximized. Therefore, a situation, which the load centers
with reactive power and far away from the power stations, is occurred. The result was a huge
voltage drop in Biyagama Grid Substation. Therefore, a thermal plant, which is located around
the Colombo area had to be taken to the system.
1.5.4.4Power generation
Power generation in Sri Lanka could be categorized into two as thermal and hydro. The
hydropower generation too could be categorized into three complexes.
Mahaweli complex is a cascade complex which is mainly operated in accordance with the
irrigation requirements. The irrigation department makes the decisions of the energy production
by these power plants. Rantambe, Bovatenna powerhouse outlet and Bowatenna reservoir is the
main irrigation outlets of this complex.
Laxapana complex is mainly operated to meet the power requirements. This is too
cascade system and there are three reservoirs and two ponds in this complex. The complex is
designed in a manner such that, when all the power plants are operated in full load, the lover
ponds are filled. In order to get the maximum output, a concept called pond regulating is
performed. According to this concept, when the full load is not requires to the system, the upper
power plants are stopped and the pond levels are let reduced. When the full load is required, the
full complex is operated in full load. So then, the decreased water levels are increases without
spilling the reservoirs. The complex is operated too to supply the water to Ambathale water
treatment plant in dry seasons.
The major hydro plants which are not belong to those complexes and the IPPs are
gathered to the Other Hydro Complex. There is one irrigation outlets in S’wewa to Kaltota area.
The thermal generation could be divided into two categories, CEB owned and IPPs, the
IPPs supply the power under the power purchasing agreement.
A weekly meeting to plan the power availability for a typical day is held in every week.
The irrigation department and CEB are participated to this meeting. The power availability of
every plant and the operating instructions are decided to the next week in this meeting.
In decision making to dispatch the power plants the following facts are considered,
• The reactive power requirement to the system and the maintenance requirements.
• The opportunity cost and the capacity charge if the plant is thermal IPP.
• The drinking water, environment and irrigation requirement priorities if the plant
is hydro.
• The availability of the water (position of the reservoir and the water level) if the
plant is a hydro.
1.5.5 Generation Planning
The electricity demand of the country is increasing with the time because of the growth
of the users as well as the growth of usage of the electricity. So to conduct a reliable service the
planning becomes a necessary item.
We were supposed to be in the System Control Center in our last two weeks. However,
our schedules were changed and we got the chance to learn the generation planning in
Generation Planning Branch. This branch is operating under the transmission division of CEB.
Its main responsibility is to prepare and implement the plans to meet the future demand. The
tasks of this branch could be listed as below,
• Forecast the future demand.
• Prepare the long term generation expansion plan
• Conduct the Pre-feasibility, feasibility and site surveying studies.
• Financing
1.5.5.1Demand forecasting.
To create a trustworthy plan, the accurately forecasted date becomes a vital source, so the
demand forecasting in an accurate manner, becomes an important section in the planning
procedure. There are three demand forecasts, which are conducted by the CEB.
1. System Demand Forecast. – By System Control Center.
2. Forecast in Distribution Planning – By all four distribution regions.
3. Long Term National Demand Forecast – By Generation Planning Branch.
From these forecasts, first two forecasts use the trend analysis method. These forecasts
are not discussed in here. Meanwhile, the forecast which is used in Generation Expansion Plan
uses an econometric model.
In this, the forecast is conducted for 20 years and it is updated per one year. The demand
is divided into three categories to increase the accuracy of the forecast; Domestic, Commercial
and religious & Street lighting. In the domestic demand forecasting, a linear regression formula
is created. In this the following variables are used,
• Previous year demand
• Gross Domestic Product per capita
• Population
• Avg. electricity price
• Leading demand
• Domestic consumer accounts
• Leading domestic consumer accounts
• Leasing GDP per capita.
Etc.
The variables used could be changed according to the demand pattern. From these
variables, the independent variables are determined. After that, the regression formula is
prepared.
The linear regression formula for the domestic demand for 2008 as follows.
Ddom (t)i = b1 + b2× GDPPCi + b3× Ddom(t-1) + ei
Where, Ddom(t)i – Domestic demand for ith year.
GDPPCi - Gross Domestic Product Per Capita for ith year
b1, b2, b3 - constants
ei – error for ith year

The Industrial and General Purpose tariff categories are gathered to the Commercial
category. This also uses the same procedure as the Domestic category, but the variables are
changed.
• Previous year demand
• Gross Domestic Product
• Average Electricity Price
• Leading demand
• Leading GDP
• Population
• Industrial Consumer Accounts
• Leading industrial Consumer Accounts
The leaner regression formula for commercial category for 2008 as follows,
Di&gp(t)i = b1 + b2× GDPi + ei
Where, Di&gp(t)i – Industrial & General Purpose demand for ith year.
GDPi - Gross Domestic Product for ith year
b1, b2 - constants
ei – error for ith year
In the Religious and Street Lighting category, because of the share of this for national
demand is relatively small and only one variable is identified, a trend analysis is done. The
formula for this category is as follows.
St = b1× (1+g)t
ln(St) = B1 + t× ln(1+g)
After building the formulas, they are tested and verify for the accuracy. Then they are
used to forecast the future demands. The sum of these three for a year is taken as the forecasted
demand for the year.
Final Energy Demand Forecast = Ddom(i)i + Di&gp(t)i + St
Then the final energy generation is forecasted adding the total losses to the energy
demand forecast.
Final Energy Generation Forecast = Final Energy Demand Forecast + Total energy Losses
Then the peak is forecasted by dividing the energy demand by the load factor.
Peak Forecasted = Final Generation Forecast
Load Factor × 8760
1.5.5.2Generation planning
After the demand is forecasted, the plan for next 15 years is prepared. In planning the
future generation, the following parameters are considered.
1.5.5.2.1 Capacity required for ith year.

The capacity of the country in a particular moment should be higher than the instant
demand of the country. So, as the worst case, the full capacity of the country should be higher
than the maximum demand. The difference between the maximum demand and the full capacity
is referred as the reserve margin. Hence, the full capacity is built by adding the maximum
demand to the reserve margin. After forecasting the maximum demand, the reserve margin for
the year is too decided. By adding those two, the capacity requirement is calculated.
1.5.5.2.2 Existing Generation

The current generation of the country is taken as the existing generation. This is
expressed in the capacity terms.
1.5.5.2.3 Retirement schedule
Due to the reasons like the technology developments and the fuel price changes, the
power plants are considered as aging elements. So a date for the retirement of the plant is
decided. Then a schedule for the retirements is prepared and used for the generation planning.
1.5.5.2.4 Committed plants

The plants, which are fixed to develop, are called the committed plants. The dates of the
commissioning of these plants are fixed and the capacities of these plants will be added to the
system in the given period in a certain manner. So the flexibility to adjust these plants is
minimum.
1.5.5.2.5 Candidate plants

The plants which are having the capability to build and not yet decided to build is called
ad the candidate plants. In planning, the only type of plants, which are having the capability to
adjust, is candidate plants.
The above parameters are interconnected to each other in the following manner.
Capacity Existing Retirement Committed Candidate
required for ith = capacity - for ith year + plants + plants
year
In the planning process simply, the candidate plants are adjusted to meet the capacity
requirement. To make this planning reasonable, the generation is planned in the most technically
feasible, economically feasible and least cont manner. This is practically done using the software
called WASP. In this planning the following options are considered as the candidate plant
options.
• Candidate hydro projects. • Nuclear
• Hydro capacity extends • Dendro
• Candidate thermal projects • Mini hydro
• Pump storage – Demand • Wind

shifting method
• HVDC – Hi-Voltage Direct
• LNG – liquid natural gas Current transmission lines.
1.6 LECO
As the second part of the training second session we had the chance to attend and learn
the distribution division from Lanka Electricity Company Ltd. for 4 weeks period. Within this
training we had the chance to learn the distribution functions and distribution planning and we
had the exposure to the experience in distribution sector. In this training period the following
schedule had to be followed.
Period Training area Training place

17/05/2010 – 21/05/2010 System Development SDD in LECO Head Office
Division
24/05/2010 – 28/05/2010 System Operations System Operations division in Head
Office, Training center in Ekala
31/05/2010 – 04/06/2010 Customer Service Center Boralasgamuwa CSC
07/06/2010 – 11/06/2010 Branch Office Nugegoda Branch Office
Table 3.5-3.1 - LECO training Schedule
1.6.1 System Development Division
As the first week in LECO, we had to train in the System Development Division. This
division is responsible for the High voltage planning (in LECO the term high-voltage is referred
to 11kV), procurement and network data controlling. Throughout the week we learnt about those
areas.
1.6.1.1High Voltage Planning
With the time, the demand for the electricity is increased. With that increment, the
performance of the electricity distribution network is decreased. To overcome this matter, the
distribution network is planned for next few years. The planning process for the LECO
distribution network is done for 5 years and the plan is updated in 3 years. In this following
process is followed.
1.6.1.2Load forecasting
The demand is increasing continuously. So, forecast the load for the next few years is an
essential step in planning process. There are two kinds of load forecasts conducted in LECO;
general load forecast and special load forecast. In spacial load forecast, the future trends for load
changes relevant to the space, is considered. The future trends of establishing an industry in an
open space could be taken as an example. In general demand forecast only the past data are used.
In forecasting the demand, a time trend for the demand is constructed using the past data.
Using this formula, the future demands for next five years are forecasted iteratively.
1.6.1.3Load flow analysis
In load flow analysis, the loads are categorized into three categories.
1. Constant impedance loads
2. Constant power loads
3. Constant current
Using this legend, the high voltage network is modeled. Then the current flows and
voltages are calculated for the maximum demand.
In planning the forecasted values are used and the modeled network is simulated for the
voltages and feeder loadings. Is there are problems with the voltages and feeder loadings,
following solutions are applied.
1. Load transfer – the load transfer is the first option the situations like voltage drops and
feeder and transformer loadings. Because, the cost for this kind of option is minimum
2. New feeder construction – when the voltage is dropped, but the PSS loading is in the
acceptable limits, this option is used. In this, a new feeder is connected to the problematic
loads.
3. New substations construction and upgrades– when the PSS is overloaded this option is
considered. In this either the existing PSS upgrade or construct a new PSS and transfer
troublesome load is done.
The network is simulated using PSS/ADEPT software. In this, with and without the
solutions given for the last year is simulated. After the simulations the proposals are gathered to
the plan.
1.6.1.4GIS – Geographic Information system
LECO manages a geographic information system and a database in asset management in

the network. In this all the properties and the geographical position about each component placed
in the network is gathered to a database. Using this, a geographical map for the network is
constructed.
The system updates in the following manner. A draftsman from each branch collects the
data about the changes in the network according to the system alternation form. This form is
filled when a change to the system is done. The draftsman reaches to the location and records the
geographical location and the relevant information about the component in a GPS recorder. Then
those data is transferred to the computer and corrects the GPS data using base files. After that the
network is plotted in a map. Then the data is sent to the head office in every month. After every
three months, a booklet containing the maps is prepared and sent to the branches.
1.6.2 System Operations
As the second week in LECO we had the chance to learn in System Operations. The
system operations section is responsible for maintaining the current situation of the network. In
this the following tasks are done.
1.6.2.1Scheduling the interruptions in the network
In this the following procedure is followed. First, the information about the planned
interruptions of the Branches for maintenance and new constructions, and the interruptions for
the CEB maintenance are gathered. Then they are scheduled in a practically feasible manner. In
this, the facts like giving priority for necessary feeders, demand variations and the human
resource availability are considered. Then, after the approval for the schedule, the necessary
details about the interruptions are publicized through the printed media and LECO web site.
1.6.2.2Issuing work permits and monitoring the maintenances
The safety of the personals is considered as the most prior necessity of the electricity
sector. So when the maintenances are occurred, they are monitored in personally by the system
Control. In this first all the switching instructions for the interruption is given by SO. These
switching should be personally observed by the relevant officer. Then, after verifying that all the
given instructions are followed the permit to work is issued. After that, the maintenance is
started. After the relevant maintenance is finished and all the personals are reported to the safe
place, the officer requests for cancel the permit. In this, the permit is cancelled and the switching
instructions for retrieve the network is given by the SO.
In Tuesday and Wednesday we had the opportunity to visit the training center in Ekala. In
this, we learned about the meter testing and meter repairing, transformer testing and repairing
and observed the components used in LECO network.
1.6.2.3The energy meter testing and repairing
When the accuracy of meter readings is kept out of the appropriate region of ±2.5%, the
relevant meter is said to be malfunctioned. The energy meters could be malfunctioned due to
following reasons
• Binding the dirt in the disks and air gaps.
• Burnouts and short circuits of the windings
• Decrease of the magnetism of the damping magnets
• Malfunctions in the bearings ( Gummy oils and dirt, decrease the magnetism in magnetic
bearings, improper adjustments)
• Disk rubbing and Creeping.
• Vibration of the mounting
In meter repairing, if the malfunction is occurred due to an outage of a component, the

relevant component is replaced with the proper component. If the malfunction could be
recovered b adjusting the parameters of the meter, then the meter is tested and calibrated to meet
the proper functioning.
In meter testing following procedure is used.
• The cover is removed and the meter is connected to the testing bench. There are two
testing benches places in LECO meter testing lab, which are capable of testing 10 and 20
parallel meters respectively.
• Then the meter is left to preheat by applying the power to the meter
• Then the following tests are conducted.
o Error test – this is conducted to test the error in disk rotation. The meter is tested
in following conditions.
1. 5% of Ib and 1 pf
2. 100% of Ib and 1 pf
3. Imax and 1 pf
4. 100% of Ib and 0.5 pf

Then the error is calculated and if the error is not in acceptable limits, the meter is
calibrated using the Full load adjustment (Adjust the position of permanent
magnet), the Low load adjustment (Adjust the position of potential coil) and the
Inductive load adjustment (Adjust the resistor connected in series with the
shading coil)
o Dial test – check whether the counter is functioning properly
o Creep test – check whether the meter is not running in no-load condition
After gaining the meter to the satisfactory limits, the meter is sent to re-use.
We had the chance to dissemble an energy meter and observe the components of the
meter.
1.6.3 Branch Office
As the forth week in LECO training, we had the chance to attend and learn about the
Branch functions and the structure of a branch. The branch, which we had the chance to visit,
was Nugegoda Branch. Boralasgamuwa, Nugegoda and Maharagama CSCs are operated under
this Branch. Billing, job costing and constructions could be taken as some of functions of the
Branch office.
1.6.3.1Billing
The billing procedure is conducted as follows,
The electricity bills for all the customers are prepares and printed in branch office. And it
keeps the records of all the consumers as different accounts in PRONTO system. These accounts
are completely managed by the Branch office. Then the printed bills are sent to the Depots or in
other words CSCs.
The revenue officers in the Depots issue the electricity bills for the consumers keeping
the branch office copy-1 with them. The bundles of these copies are returned to the branch office
after issuing the bills. The consumer accounts could be referenced through the PRONTO system.
The payments could be done to the CSCs, branch office itself, and authorized agents and
through the banks. The payments done through the banks are updated through the Head Office.
The customer copy is returned to the customer and the branch office copy-2 and
agent/Bank copy is kept with the agent. Then the branch office copy-2 is too sent to the branch
office. From this the payment is registered and deposited to the customer account.
1.6.3.2New connections
When a new connection is establishing the following procedure is followed.
First the customer applies a new connection through an application. The details including
the name, address, connection type, map and the equipments in use are forwarded with the
application. The Gramasewaka certificate is an essential document out of the above documents.
Then a technical officer, who is responsible of estimation preparation, goes to the site and
gathers the relevant information like the service wire length, transformer no, etc. The nearest
customer number is too noted down in case of the easiness of the identification. Then the
estimate is prepared.
The customer has to pay the estimated amount to CSC and sign a contract. After that, the
LECO employees in CSC provide the connection and issue a meter seal docket. Then the file of
the new connection is sent to the branch office and updates the PRONTO system.
1.6.3.3Constructions
While the high voltage constructions are being done by SDD, the low voltage
constructions are done by the branch office. There are two kinds of constructions; LECO
initiated and Customer initiated. In here the LECO initiated constructions are considered. LECO
initiated constructions are mainly focused on upgrading the network performances.
In this, following quality vice parameters are considered.
• The voltage of the consumer end should be within the range 230±6%V.(216.2V–243.8V)
• The Frequency should be within the range 50±1%Hz (49.5Hz – 50.5Hz)
• The power should be available 24hours.
From this, in Branch office constructions, the voltage is used. Furthermore, the feeder
loadings and transformer loadings are taken into account as the performance vice parameters.
Using the consumer data the transformers are modeled as individual networks and
simulated using the “LV design” software, for the voltages and feeder loading for the next 5
years. Through this, the matters of the network are identified.
Then the most feasible and cost effective solutions out of the followings are identified.
• Load transfer • Tap position change
• New feeders • New transformer
• Feeder rearrangement
1.6.4 Customer Service Center (Depot)
As the third week of the LECO training, we had the chance to learn about the CSC
and the functions of it. And also we had the chance to attend the tangible works done by
CSC, like maintenances and reconnections. The CSC which we had the chance to attend is
Boralasgamuwa CSC.
1.6.4.1The tariff categories
Some of the tariff categories have been mentioned in the earlier chapters. But the
exposure to the tariff categories is mainly gained during the LECO CSC period.
The electricity is categorized as an essential item. So the electricity is sold to the

customer in a tariff format instead of a price deciding method. In tariff format, the consumers
are divided into few categories. They are,
• Domestic – this category is the one which is having the largest category in consumer
count. The consumers who are using the electricity for domestic usage are belonging
to this category. The cost of a unit in this category is relatively high, because, the
consumers in this category are not contributing to the GDP.
• General purpose – The consumers, who are using the electricity for commercial
applications and the temporary connections are considered ad the GP consumers.
They are having the highest rate.
• Industrial – The consumers, who are using the electricity for industrial usage, are
taken into this category. They should be registered in Ministry of Industry. The rate in
this category is relatively low.
• Hotel – The consumers, who are registered as hotels in ministry of tourism and having
at least three star rating, is gathered to this category. They are having a relatively
lower rate to the domestic.
• Religious – the consumers who are registered as religious or social servicing

organization in Social Service Department is gathered to this category. The rate for
this category is relatively low.
• Street lighting – the payable for street lighting is collected in an estimated manner
from the relevant provincial council.
1.6.4.2Experiences
During the week we had the chance to attend the reconnection visit. In this, five
disconnections ate reconnected. When disconnecting a supply, the phase line is removed from
the meter, and seals it. When the approval for reconnection is given, the removed phase line
is connected to the meter again. If the disconnection is difficult due to the consumer matters,
the line is disconnected from the pole. The maintenance gang uses an identical tool for the
gang, to seal the meters. After all the works with the meter sealing, a docked is issued.
And also, we had the chance to attend a service maintenance visit. In this, we had the
chance to attend two meter shiftings, service wire replacement and a meter box replacement.
The MCB which is used instead of the fuse in CEB is used to protect the meter. Therefore, it
should be connected before the meter. But, what we observed is, connect the MCB after the
meter to prevent stealing the electricity from the MCB position. And also, the service wire
should be placed in a clearly visible manner, to the revenue officer.
We too had the chance to prepare connections of the meter box. Furthermore, the
maintenance personals worked in the on-load. They removed the conductor in the live wire
for some length for the safety purposes. They used the electricity in the phase for the drilling
purposes of the walls.
Conclusion
In this training session the training is restructured for the Electrical Engineering
students by dividing the 6-month training period into two and allowing all the students have
two different trainings experiences in the same training session. Furthermore, each and every
student had the exposure for the government sector as well as the private sector. Through
this, we had the chance to acquire the complete knowledge about the field. The knowledge I
gathered is a great.
As my first training place I had the chance to training in Hemas Power. This company
is a great path to acquire knowledge about power generation as an IPP. Because, the company
has invested in thermal as well as the mini-hydro fields. We had the exposure to learn about
the IPP role in power sector.
In my training period I could be able to visit Giddawa mini-hydro plant and Senok
Mark mini-hydro plant. This gave me the exposure to the life-style of yet-suburbanized
villagers. It was a great experience to be with such a community. Furthermore, I enjoyed the
environment very much. Being in the beneath of Knuckles mountain range is a great pleasure.
Opportunity to participate in the programs like Teamwork workshop gave a different
experience to me.
Hemas Power is a company which does a great job with a lesser staff. So facilitating
to three trainees and teaching them is a great deal. But they gave their maximum effort to
teach us when we wanted, by managing their time too. Hemas Power is a worth place to have
an electrical engineering training in IPP sector. We should thankful to Hemas Power for
giving us the chance and proper guidance to have a better training.
The second session of the training was CEB and LECO training.
I had the opportunity to get the knowledge about various sections, in generation and
transmission during CEB period. During the training, we had the chance to visit different
places and gather the knowledge about different section. Being with a group of colleagues
and gather knowledge by moving around the country was a great experience.
What I observed in CEB is, the personals in the above level like Engineer and AGM,
tries to keep the service provided by CEB in a quality vise good manner. But in the below
levels, in most of times, this attitude is not represented. I strongly suggest looking into the
matter of inefficiency through this degree. Furthermore, the developments and the
improvements of the Generation and the transmission too, are done through the government
decisions, this makes the improvements delayed. We have the experiences of these delays in
earlier 2000s. So, create a criteria to accelerate the decision making process through the
government could be a very effective step. The attitude I had about the CEB before the
training period was completely changed to a great one during the training period, after having
the experiences in CEB.
LECO was more helpful in understanding the distribution area. In this period we had
the exposure to the new technologies could be used for the power sector. The creative ideas
use the other fields too, instead of only the electricity related technologies.
The major areas, like planning and administrating too learnt during this period. So the
LECO period gives us a great knowledge. Furthermore, we had the opportunity to visit
service repairs during the CSC week. In this week we had the exposure to the lifestyle of the
employees, employed in heavy works like maintenance, in additional to the practical
experience. Understanding these employees and their problems leads to the easiness of
creating good relationships in engineering future.
Moving on to the training establishment again, due to the training, the application of
the theories increased the interest of learning them. So, if it’s possible to create an
opportunity for the younger generations, to attend to, at least one month training in the earlier
years, it would be a great help for them to get the knowledge well. Theory makes the
understanding of the exposed; exposure makes the interest of the theory.
Annexes
Annex 1 – MATLAB Program on flow duration curve
function details=analizerainfall(FDC,lowermargine,head,TE)
%FDC order is [days,values]
FDC(2,:) = FDC(2,:)-lowermargine;
FDC_Size = size(FDC);
for i=0:FDC_Size(1,2)
A_days = [A FDC(1,:)'^(FDC_Size(1,2)-i)]; %#ok<AGROW>
A_vals = [A FDC(2,:)'^(FDC_Size(1,2)-i)]; %#ok<AGROW>
end
coff_days = inv(A_days)*FDC(1,:)';
coff_vals = inv(A_vals)*FDC(1,:)';
disp('1 - Pelton');
disp('2 - Francis');
disp('3 - Kaplan');
disp('4 - Small');
turb = input('enter the turbine type:');
turbdet = [.9 .5 .6 .4];
minFlow = min(FDC(2,:));
maxFlow = min(FDC(2,:))/turbdet(1,turb);
details1 = [];
for i = cast(minFlow,'int16'):1:cast(maxFlow,'int16')
x1 = polyval(coff_vals,i);
flow = x1*i + quad(@(x)polyval(coff_days),x1,max(FDC(1,:)));
power = TE*9.81*flow*head;
max_power = TE*9.81*max(FDC(1,:))*i;
plant_factor = power/max_power;
excedance = x1/max(FDC(1,:));
annual_energy = power*60*60*24*365;
dindet = [i power plant_factor excedance annual_energy];
details1 = [details1 dindet']; %#ok<AGROW>
end
details = details1;
Annex 2 – MATLAB Program on turbine selection-1
function turbine = selectturbine(head,flow)
turbine_headmin = [30 6.6 136 62 4 2 1.3 3 2];
turbine_headmax = [734 72 1230 1150 186 27 23 27 147];
turbine_flowmin = [8 34.5 2.5 .1 .8 2.7 2.5 6 .1];
turbine_flowmax = [781 618 52 27 25 170 530 290 12];
turbine_efficiency_mean = [.92 .92 .89 .87 .85 .87 .89 .89 .81];
selected_turbines = ones(1,9);
turbinedetails = [];
disp('Turbine Order:')
disp('1-Vertical shaft Francis')
disp('2-Vertical shaft Kaplan')
disp('3-Vertical shaft Pelton')
disp('4-Horizontal shaft Pelton')
disp('5-Small Scale Francis')
disp('6-Small Scale Kaplan')
disp('7-Bulb turbine')
disp('8-Tubular turbine')
disp('9-Cross-flow turbine')
disp('')
for i=1:9
if head<turbine_headmin(1,i)||head>turbine_headmax(1,i)||
flow<turbine_flowmin(1,i)||flow>turbine_flowmax(1,i)
selected_turbines(1,i) = 0;
turbinedetails = [turbinedetails ones(4,1)]
else
power = 9.806*head*flow*turbine_efficiency_mean (1,i);
diameter = 0.168*(power/head)^.447;
speed = 80.387*(head^.5/diameter)^.828;
no_of_poles = 120*50/speed;
syn_nop = 4*cast(no_of_poles/4,'int8');
rec_speed = 120*50/syn_nop;
rec_diameter = head^.5/(rec_speed/80.387)^(1/.828);
valuemat = [i power rec_speed rec_diameter];
turbinedetails = [turbinedetails valuemat'];
end
end
disp(turbinedetails)
[val,idx] = min(turbinedetails(4,:));
switch idx
case 1
turbine = 'Vertical shaft Francis';
case 2
turbine = 'Vertical shaft Kaplan';
case 3
turbine = 'Vertical shaft Pelton';
case 4
turbine = 'Horizontal shaft Pelton';
case 5
turbine = 'Small Scale Francis';
case 6
turbine = 'Small Scale Kaplan';
case 7
turbine = 'Bulb turbine';
case 8
turbine = 'Tubular turbine';
case 9
turbine = 'Cross-flow turbine';
end
Annex 3 – MATLAB Program on turbine selection-2
function turbine = selectturbine(flow, head, speed)
ssn = 10*(flow/1000)^.5*head^-.75*speed;
turbines = [];
if ssn<91.287
d = [1;.75];
turbines = [turbines d];
end
if ssn>45.643 & ssn<213.003
d = [2;.75];
end
if ssn>60.858 & ssn<197.789
d = [3;.75];
end
if ssn>114.401& ssn<457.604
d = [4;.65];
end
if ssn>88.388 & ssn<1178.511
d = [5;.8];
end
if ssn>883.883
d = [6;.8];
end
lngth = size(turbines);
if lngth(1,2)~=1
cost = [];
for i=1:lngth(1,2)
%select type, calc power, selectdia, evaluate cost/profit
turbines(2,i);
power = 10*head*(flow/1000)*turbines(2,i);
specificspeed = 1.2*(head^-1.25)*speed*(power^.5);
diameter = selectdia(head , flow , specificspeed);
cost = [cost diameter];
end
[val,idx] = min(cost);
else
idx = 1;
end
switch idx
case 1
turbine = 'pelt_s';
case 2
turbine = 'pelt_m';
case 3
turbine = 'turgo';
case 4
turbine = 'crossflow';
case 5
turbine = 'franecis';
case 6
turbine = 'axial';
end
Annex 4 – Trash rack design
Annex 5 – Teamwork workshop certificate
Annex 6 – Maintenance schedule

Training Report

Caricato da

Informazioni sul documento

Descrizione originale:

Copyright

Formati disponibili

Condividi questo documento

Condividi o incorpora il documento

Opzioni di condivisione

Hai trovato utile questo documento?

Questo contenuto è inappropriato?

Copyright:

Formati disponibili

Training Report

Caricato da

Copyright:

Formati disponibili

Industrial Training Report

1.1 Hemas power.................................................................................................................viii

1.1.1 Organizational Structure...........................................................................................ix

1.3.1 Organizational structure.........................................................................................xiii

S R M D T S WIJESEKARA | 070549D iii

1.4 Hemas power..................................................................................................................xv

1.4.1 Hemas building power system.................................................................................xv

1.5.1 Hydro Power Generation – Samanalawawa Power Station.....................................36

1.6.1 System Development Division................................................................................56

Annex 1 – MATLAB Program on flow duration curve......................................................69

Annex 2 – MATLAB Program on turbine selection-1........................................................70

Annex 3 – MATLAB Program on turbine selection-2........................................................71

Annex 4 – Trash rack design...............................................................................................72

Annex 5 – Teamwork workshop certificate.........................................................................73

Annex 6 – Maintenance schedule........................................................................................74

Figure 1.1-1 - staff of the Hemas Power PLC...........................................................................ix

Figure 1.3-2- LECO Distribution Areas..................................................................................xii

Figure 1.3-3 - LECO Organizational Structure........................................................................xii

Figure 2.1-4 - Power system of Hemas building.....................................................................xvi

Figure 2.2-6 - Annual Hydrograph........................................................................................xxii

Figure 2.2-7 - Flow Duration Curve......................................................................................xxii

Figure 2.2-8 - Turbine Efficiency Curve...............................................................................xxiv

Figure 2.2-9 Turbine Selection Chart....................................................................................xxiv

Figure 2.5-10 - Waterway of Giddawa MHP........................................................................xxix

Figure 2.5-11 - Electrical System of Giddawa MHP.............................................................xxx

Table 2.1-1 - Hemas Building Electricity Expenditures........................................................xvii

Table 3.5-3.1 - LECO training Schedule..................................................................................55

S R M D T S WIJESEKARA | 070549D vii

1.1 Hemas power

1.1.1 Organizational Structure

1.1.5 Usefulness to society

1.2 Ceylon Electricity Board

1.2.3 Present Performances of CEB

1.2.4 Strength of the CEB

1.2.5 Weaknesses of CEB

1.2.7 Usefulness to the society

1.3 Lanka Electricity Company.

15% of the electricity distribution is owned by LECO.

Currently LECO is operating is 39 local Government

Figure 1.3-2- LECO

S R M D T S WIJESEKARA | 070549D xii

Figure 1.3-3 - LECO Organizational Structure

1.3.1 Organizational structure

1.3.2 Present performance

Currently, LECO has invested in a meter production factory in Bandaragama. The

1.3.4 Strength of the company

1.3.5 Weaknesses of the company

S R M D T S WIJESEKARA | 070549D xiii

S R M D T S WIJESEKARA | 070549D xiv

1.4 Hemas power

1.4.1 Hemas building power system.

We observed the main

Prime mover speed – 1500rpm

Rated Power - 512kW 565kW (stand by)

640kVA 706kVA (stand by)

Rated Current 924A 1019A (stand by)

S R M D T S WIJESEKARA | 070549D xvi

The generator is maintained by Trade Promoters Ltd. Sri Lanka.

Table 2.1-1 - Hemas Building Electricity Expenditures

For Bristol street Cost – Rs For York Street Cost – Rs

S R M D T S WIJESEKARA | 070549D xvii

1.4.2 Mini Hydro Plants

By including the efficiency, the power output could be presented.