Promoting renewable energy will accelerate development

Ridma DISSANAYAKE

The Sri Lankan government is embarked on a development drive specially targetting the rehabilitation of the North and East provinces which have been destroyed due to years of terrorism. Supplying electricity is an important aspect of this development drive as electricity is an essential part for infrastructure development. Power and energy are also indicators of the quality of life of people in a country.

According to reports, fossil fuel will run out within 40 years and from 2050 alternative resources will need to be found to generate power and energy to achieve development goals. Therefore, promoting renewable energy is paramount and it will greatly support Sri Lanka’s development process.

What is renewable energy?

Renewable energy is a form of energy resource that is replaced by a natural process at a rate that is equal to or faster than the rate at which that resource is being consumed.

What are the renewable energy resources in Sri Lanka?

Sri Lanka is blessed with several forms of energy resources as it is an island located in the tropics and surrounded by the Indian Ocean. Sri Lanka receives rain from two monsoonal wind regimes, viz., the Southwest and Northeast monsoons and gets 750 to 5,000 mm rainfall annually.

Some of the renewable energy resources are widely used and developed to supply the energy requirement of the country. Others have the potential for development when the technologies become mature and economically feasible for use. Water, wind, solar power and bio-mass are the available renewable energy resources in Sri Lanka and there are various programmes to use these resources to develop the country.

What are the aims and achievements?

The government aims to reach a 100 percent target in countrywide electrification by 2015. The growing demand for electricity could be met only by adding adequate generation capacities, using the most appropriate technologies in the most economical manner.

However, energy resources in Sri Lanka now fail to meet these criteria and therefore, the need for several resources or an energy mix arises. The Power and Energy Ministry has formulated National Energy Policies and Strategies of Sri Lanka in 2008 which envisages the gradual increase of non-conventional renewable energy resources to provide the right mix to generate electricity.

As a developing country Sri Lanka had passed another milestone on August 8 in the journey towards a sustainable energy future by energizing a commercial scale grid connected solar power generation plant. This large-scale solar power plant is the first in Sri Lanka and is adding another 500kw to the national grid.

Power generation

The Sri Lanka Sustainable Energy Authority (SLSEA) began the construction of this power plant in 2010 under the purview of the Power and Energy Ministry with funds provided by the Korean government. They are providing funds through the Korean International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) under the Introduction of Clear Energy programme. This will be a prominent icon in strengthening friendship between the two countries.

The average daily electricity generation from the solar power plant is estimated to be 2,300 kwh, which will result in 839,500 kwh of annual generation. This will be the amount of electricity consumed by over 800 rural homes or 500 average Sri Lankan homes in a year. There are many advantages of this project, such as saving 200,000 litres of diesel annually leading to an annual carbon dioxide (CO2) reduction of 600 tonnes from emissions resulting from power generation.

The government has initiated renewable energy development by ensuring energy security of the country by deploying indigenous energy resources. The country aims to achieve 10 percent of power generation using renewable energy by 2015.

Under the national action plan to make Sri Lanka a global energy hub in keeping with the Mahinda Chinthana Future Vision, SLSEA and Power and Energy Ministry have launched several programmes on renewable energy and energy conservation which will greatly support Sri Lanka’s development drive.