Sri Lankan government on the directions of President Gotabaya Rajapksa has set the targets for renewable energy adding 200 MW to the national grid by 2020, and to increase up to 1000 MW by 2025 of solar electricity. To achieve these targets the prevailing barriers have to be considered.
The government will launch a rapid renewable energy generation plan from the 1st of June, says the Minister of Power and Energy Kanchana Wijesekara.
The lawmaker, noting that the fuel bill for power generation has exceeded USD 100 million per month and that the average cost per unit generation has increased to Rs 48, presented two quick solutions for the energy crisis.
As the first solution, he proposed to convert industries, state sector institutions, hospitals, hotels and other roof space available to solar panels.
“In order to move towards energy independence and sustainable development, Sri Lanka should develop a technology-mix using available indigenous energy sources (hydro, solar, wind, bio-mass, etc.), and reduce the use of imported fossil fuels.
Hydropower is already well established in Sri Lanka, and solar energy is at the top of the renewables list
With tariff rate changes proposed, the current electricity bill will triple in most of the above sectors. They can invest the current electricity bill amount on solar panels to be paid monthly to the solar companies to lessen the burden on their institutes and also CEB grid,” Minister Wijesekara said further.
The Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) can manage the hydro and thermal power plants to be used during the night time to reduce generation cost, he added.
As the second solution, he suggested granting provisional approvals immediately for proposed projects. The rates should be revised reasonably, the minister pointed out.
After the provincial approval is given, it is proposed to work together with the CEB and Sri Lanka Sustainable Energy Authority (SLSEA) and investors for transmission line and grid capacity enhancement with the required investment coming from the project investor, he continued.“This will speed up the project timeline.”
Apart from these two quick steps, large scale investments for selected renewable projects will be accommodated after technical and financial evaluation, the minister added.
The long term generation expansion plan illustrated that the projected target of total other renewable energy capacity is planned to increase from 1245 MW in 2020 to 4330 MW by 2039.] The total capacity of major hydro resources is expected to increase the first five years by 225 MW with the completion of ongoing hydropower projects and will remain at the same level afterward.
The total planned Other Renewable Energy (ORE) capacity will increase to 2700 MW by 2030
Wind and solar capacity is the significant contributor to the ORE capacity increase whereas moderate growth is expected in Mini-hydro and biomass technologies. Beyond 2023, the major share of the other renewable capacity is mainly by solar, official sources said.
