The first coal shipment for 2026 failed a second quality test — after portions of it were already burned at the Norochcholai coal power plant.
Cotecna, an Indian laboratory, tested a sample from the first sixty thousand metric tonnes supplied by India’s Trident Chemphar. Kumara Jayakody, the energy minister, conceded that the sample tested at 6.4 percent below the Lanka Coal Company’s reject value of 5900 kilocalories per kilogram.
The second test arose when the coal failed to pass the Norochcholai plant’s in-house lab test, when it was unloaded. The lab report leaked and opposition members questioned the government in Parliament.
Lanka Coal or LCC — a Ceylon Electricity Board subsidiary tasked with supplying coal to the country’s sole coal plant in Norochcholai — sent the samples for testing in India on 10 January.
While Norochcholai was conducting the discharge test, the controversial coal was already burning at the plant. Usually, the coal is fed to the plant as it’s being unloaded. An official involved in the matter told The Examiner that the stocks were accepted as the coal passed the quality standard at its load port in South Africa.
Even if the coal wasn’t used, there was no way for it to be returned. The Norochcholai port doesn’t allow for reloading.
Udayanga Hemapala, the energy ministry’s secretary, said it was “normal procedure” to use the coal. But S.M. Marikkar, an opposition MP and chair of a parliamentary sectoral oversight committee looking into the matter, questioned operating the plant with low quality stocks.
LCC plans to impose a penalty, about two million dollars as per the agreement, on the supplier.
Since the first shipment, two more have arrived at Norochcholai. Jayakody claimed the second shipment passed the quality test in India. The reports were initially promised on 16 January. The CEB planned a press conference with the Norochcholai plant managers for two days later — Monday.
The presser was later cancelled. Instead Jayakody read parts of the reports in Parliament. They’ve since been marred in secrecy, with both CEB and Norochocholai power plant officials refusing to comment on it.
This is the first time the Trident Chemphar is supplying coal to Sri Lanka. The same company failed to fulfill procurement requirements in 2016 when importing rice.
Low energy efficiency
Norochcholai can only accept shipments from September to April, before the north-west monsoons endanger the seas. The stored stocks feed the furnaces the rest of the year.
