In Class Assignment on Introduction to

Supply Chain Management

Supply Chain: - Generation of electricity using Coal and distribution it to the consumers.

1. Identify the basic elements of selected SC

I. Sourcing of coal from the countries like South Africa, Russia and Indonesia using
competitive bidding process.
II. Transportation of Coal from those countries to Norochcholai using Vessels and Barges.
III. Storage of coal in the open yard. (Capacity – 1 million metric tons and currently doing an
extension project).
IV. Process: - Crush the coal and make fine dust and supply it to the boiler and generate high
pressure steam (15MPa). Steam is used to rotate a turbine and generate electricity (03 x
300MW).
V. Distribute the electricity to consumer through two feeders to Anuradhapura and two
feeders to Chilaw.

2. How to evaluate the operational efficiency of it

I. Calculate the Availability Factor of each power plant (Unit 01, Unit 02 and unit 03)
throughout the year. Plants may be unavailable due to breakdowns or scheduled
maintenance.
II. Calculate the Running Plant Factor (which is the ratio of the actual energy output of a
generation unit over a period of time to its potential output) for each unit.
III. Calculate coal consumption per unit (1kWh/ coal kg). From this we can get an idea about
the efficiency of the power plants.
IV. Calculate Per unit generation cost of the power plant including operation and
maintenance cost. (Rs/kWh). Previous year this was 11 Rs/kWh.
V. Calculate power interruption or breakdown frequency and period (time) for the
consumers.
VI. Calculate Transmission loss in the conductors (Around 10% and reducing)
VII. Keep electricity supply voltage and frequency within the specified region (+10% or -10%).

3. How to enhance the operational performance of selected SC

I. Reduce overall cost of generation.
• Improve the transparency of coal tender bidding procedures.
• Buy coal with higher calorific value and according to design parameters of the
boiler (Sulfur < 1%, less ash content, specified volatile matter and moisture).
• Improving CEB workers knowledge and capacity and reduce usage of Chinese
people. (Save Foreign currency reserves)
II. Increase the electricity supply quality (specially voltage) and give a reliable electricity
supply at a competitive price for the consumers. Reliable means uninterrupted power
supply throughout the year and throughout the day.
• As a power plant we can do the timely scheduled maintenance to our three units.
This will reduce the breakdown time of our power plant. which is more than 40%
of power generation mix.
 III. Improve the responsiveness to the customer inquiries. Already we have developed a
smart app to consumers. Where they can inform breakdowns to us. This message is
directly sent to the nearest breakdown attending team, tracking them through GPS.
• As a power plant, we can Reduce the breakdown rectification time by improving
CEB workers knowledge and capacity. Because sometimes we have to wait for
the Chinese people to visit from the China.

4. What are the challenges you may have to have when doing so?
a. Coal power plant is not located at the best suited location; so, coal unloading can only do
8 months period for year. Therefore, we have to keep significant inventory (more than 1
million metric tons). This can create safety issues like coal fires and also coal ash goes to
the nearby villages during the monsoon season.
b. When it comes to handling, cannot bring Vessels near to the coal jetty (four unloading
cranes are available). Therefore, have to use the Barges to bring coal from the vessel to
the coal unloaders. This adds up significant operation cost for the total transportation
process.
c. Coal is used as power sources for the different industries thought the world. Due to the
political tension between China, Australia and USA and due to the higher requirement of
coal in other industries after the Covid – 19 first wave, have increased the coal prices
significantly (two to three times). Therefore, electricity generation cost of coal also has
increased.
d. Transparency of the coal purchasing is low. Also lack of competitive bidding for the coal
tenders from the coal suppliers due to the high fluctuation in coal prices.
e. Lack of Foreign reserves for the CEB and Government.