Ceylon Electricity Board - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Ceylon Electricity Board (also abbreviated as CEB), is the largest electricity company in Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...

. With a market share of nearly 100%, it controls all major functions of electricity generation

Electricity generation

Electricity generation is the process of generating electric energy from other forms of energy.The fundamental principles of electricity generation were discovered during the 1820s and early 1830s by the British scientist Michael Faraday...

, transmission

Electric power transmission

Electric-power transmission is the bulk transfer of electrical energy, from generating power plants to Electrical substations located near demand centers...

, distribution

Electricity distribution

File:Electricity grid simple- North America.svg|thumb|380px|right|Simplified diagram of AC electricity distribution from generation stations to consumers...

and retailing

Electricity retailing

Electricity retailing is the final process in the delivery of electricity from generation to the consumer. The other main processes are transmission and distribution.- Beginnings :...

in Sri Lanka. It is one of the only two on-grid electricity companies in the country; the other being Lanka Electricity Company. The company earned approximately LKR

Sri Lankan rupee

The rupee is the currency of Sri Lanka, divided into 100 cents. It is issued by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka and is generally written Rs. The rupee (Sinhala: රුපියල , Tamil: ரூபாய்) (sign: ₨; code: LKR) is the currency of Sri Lanka, divided into 100 cents. It is issued by the Central Bank of Sri...

110.9 billion in 2008, with a total of nearly 4.1 million consumer accounts.

Opened in 1969, the company now has a total installed capacity of , of which approximately is from thermal energy

Thermal power station

A thermal power station is a power plant in which the prime mover is steam driven. Water is heated, turns into steam and spins a steam turbine which drives an electrical generator. After it passes through the turbine, the steam is condensed in a condenser and recycled to where it was heated; this...

, and is from hydroelectricity

Hydroelectricity

Hydroelectricity is the term referring to electricity generated by hydropower; the production of electrical power through the use of the gravitational force of falling or flowing water. It is the most widely used form of renewable energy...

. Due to low wind resource, rough terrain and poor road conditions in Sri Lanka, CEB owns only one wind farm

Wind farm

A wind farm is a group of wind turbines in the same location used to produce electric power. A large wind farm may consist of several hundred individual wind turbines, and cover an extended area of hundreds of square miles, but the land between the turbines may be used for agricultural or other...

in Hambantota

Hambantota

Hambantota is a coastal city in the south of Sri Lanka. It is the capital of the Hambantota District...

, known as the Hambantota Wind Farm

Hambantota Wind Farm

The Hambantota Wind Farm is the first wind farm to be commissioned in Sri Lanka. The farm is located along south-eastern coast of Hambantota, and consists of five NEG Micon M1500-600 wind turbines of each...

. The farm consists of five turbines

Wind turbine

A wind turbine is a device that converts kinetic energy from the wind into mechanical energy. If the mechanical energy is used to produce electricity, the device may be called a wind generator or wind charger. If the mechanical energy is used to drive machinery, such as for grinding grain or...

, measuring each. CEB also manages numerous hydroelectric dams such as the Victoria Dam, and power plants such as the Norocholai Coal Power Station.

See also