Power Ministry gets tough with licences

Wasantha Ramanayake

All licence holders who had agreed to start power projects using renewable energy sources have been asked to expedite such projects, a Power and Energy Ministry official said.

"Certain licensees were found to be unnecessarily dragging their feet, the official charged.

He said Power and Energy Minister W.D.J. Senevirathne had reiterated that such projects should be implemented within one year.

The official added that the Ceylon Electricity Board had signed agreements to purchase power thus produced "at rates very much favourable to the producers," since the country needs renewable energy to reduce dependency on fossil fuels.

The Ministry has so far issued 42 licences to implement projects supplying 117 megawatts to the national grid, while 159 licences had been issued temporally.

Among them 111 licences were in connection with the implementation of mini hydro power stations, 36 licences in connection with projects using biomass, 22 licences using solid waste and 12 licences for power using dendro or wood. The official said the Government had established the Sustainable Energy Authority (SEA) to develop sustainable energy sources.

The SEA is mandated to encourage energy managers and facilitate the implementation of new power generation projects with technological know-how. The Government aims to expand the contribution of the renewable energy sources to the national grid up to 15 per cent.

Accordingly the Ministry plans to obtain 400 megawatts using renewable sources which are currently around 130 megawatts.