Critical success factors of international technology transfer: a case of the Norochcholai Coal Power Project in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Success and failure of Norochcholai Coal Power Plant (NCPP) in terms of technology transfer aspect is a debatable subject in Sri Lankan energy scene. This NCPP is the country’s largest coal power based energy generator which came into the operation in three steps of 300MW as Phase 1 in the year 2011, Phase II in year 2013 and Phase III in year 2014. The total investment of the project was 1.35 Billion USD and out of which 450Million USD was received as a soft loan from the Export and Import (EXIM) Bank of China. The project construction was undertaken by the China Machinery Engineering Corporation (CMEC) of China and it successfully came in to the light amidst the enormous amount of objections coming from different environmental and social pressure groups. After few years of operation, this power plant failed several times causing thousand hours of generation loss while incurring nearly 6.5 Billion Rupees reduction of income to the national economy due to the unavailability of the plant as per the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) Annual Report 2015. In consequent to this, most of the expectations diluted and the negative impacts of environmental, social and cultural factors were highlighted by the media several times. Therefore, the identification of critical success factors during the technology transfer stage of this power plant is of extremely important subject. The main methodology of this study is secondary data, complements with interviews with various stake holders. It reviewed 34 success factors of technology transfer and found that 14 factors are critical success factors in terms of technology transfer. The recommendations of this study can be used as guides for designing suitable mechanism for technology transfer aspect of incoming coal power plants in Sri Lanka and other countries of similar background.