Construction has begun on a second 220-kilovolt underground transmission cable running from the Kerawalapitiya grid substation to the Colombo Port grid substation, NewsFirst reported.
The project is financed through a $52 million loan from the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). The cable system will span roughly 16 kilometres and the work also covers modernisation of the substations at either end and the installation of new control systems.
Why a second cable
Deputy Minister Arkam Ilyas said the existing cable along the route, built in 2019, can no longer meet electricity demand in the Colombo area, which is rising rapidly and now includes the Colombo Port City development.
The second line is intended to work as an alternative route, allowing supply to continue during maintenance work or a sudden system breakdown rather than leaving the corridor dependent on a single circuit.
Grid connections north and south
The new capacity is also meant to serve generation at both ends of the country. It will help feed electricity from the Kerawalapitiya liquefied natural gas power plants into the national grid, and provide the transmission headroom needed to carry renewable energy generated in the Northern and Eastern provinces toward Colombo, the country’s main load centre.
That second function matters for the government’s renewable targets: wind and solar capacity is concentrated in the north and east, while demand is concentrated in the west, and limited transmission capacity between the two has been a recurring constraint.
The project is being implemented by the Ceylon Electricity Board. AIIB lists it as the Kerawalapitiya–Port L Second Transmission Line Project, describing the same 16 km, 220 kV single-circuit underground scope between the Kerawalapitiya switching station and the Colombo Port L grid substation, and noting that the first cable on the route was commissioned in 2019. The bank approved the financing last year; construction starting is the new step.
Source: NewsFirst.
