SLSEA to set energy efficient benchmarks for industries

Ramani KANGARAARACHCHI

The Sri Lanka Sustainable Energy Authority (SLSEA) will set benchmarks for all types of industries and commercial establishments and go for more energy efficient methods very soon which will save around 20 percent of energy consumption in the country by 2020.

Director General of SLSEA, Dr Thusitha Sugathapala told Daily News Business that new regulations will be introduced shortly where the industries will be compelled to go for energy efficient and cleaner processes and concepts to be sustainable in the business world.

The saving of 240 gigawatts, expected from the implementation of the regulation on Energy Manager Accreditation Scheme alone, will accumulate to about Rs 5.5 billion annually for the country. The total expenditure of the government to import fossil fuel annually is US $ 4.5 billion.

According to new regulations every company should appoint energy managers from their staff and they should report energy data of their companies to the SLSEA where their consumption is evaluated . The companies which use more than 50,000 kWh of electricity per month will come under this energy management programme during the initial stage of implementation because they use 80 percent of electricity in the sector.

Energy labelling bulbs is another step taken by the authority to save electricity. Presence of an energy label in every CFL bulb in the local market is a must and no one can import or sell CFL bulbs which do not conform to the minimum performance grading specified. After implementing this method the country has been able to save Rs 6.6 billion annually equal to 290 gigawatt hours.

Dr Sugathapala said industries also should have their own benchmark and improvements in their establishments. “They should be aware on new trends, look at invention and innovation, adopt new processes and introduce latest technologies.” He said the overall objective of the energy management programme is to enhance economic activity of the country without making an additional burden on the energy sector – the expectation is to keep the level of energy intensity in economy at the present level of 500 tonnes of oil equivalent (TOE) per million special drawing rights (SDR). The energy management programme launched by SLSEA has 4 facets namely regulations, energy services, awareness and education and financing and the scope of the activities is to support energy efficiency improvement and conservation in all sectors, namely industrial, commercial and domestic consumer categories.