There has been a notable international awakening in the field of renewable energy resources development. In Sri Lanka, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa in his Vistas of Prosperity socio-economic national development agenda has prioritised the need of promoting the renewable energy sources development which has been progressing at snail pace during the last decade.
A separate state ministry too has been established to develop solar power, wind and hydro power generation projects. Many industries in Sri Lanka require the source of thermal energy for various needs. The cost of this energy constitutes a large fraction of cost of production due to the growing price of traditional sources of fuels. The use of imported fossil fuels such as coal causes a large drain of foreign exchange from the country. This requirement could easily be fulfilled through the use of various renewable energy sources such as solar power, wind and hydro power including biomass. Climate change is one of the most serious issued faced by the world today. The use of petroleum resources for energy generation has been attributed to this through the release of carbon dioxide, which is one of the gases responsible for the global climate change.
Sri Lanka is devoid of commercially proven petroleum resources. We import coal and liquid petroleum fuel requirements for the thermal power plants. Until the mid 1990’s, Sri Lanka could meet the entire electricity demand through hydro power plants. However, with the fast expansion of electrification, we could not meet the electricity demand purely from hydro power plants. We initiated thermal power plants using liquid petroleum fuels earlier, which resulted in high electricity costs. That could be cushioned with the shift to coal power plants in the next phase around 10 years ago. Coal was the cheapest energy source. Non-conventional renewable energy sources such as solar and wind were far expensive.
Viable option
The context has changed today; the price of the earlier cheapest energy source has increased around three-fold now. Sri Lanka has to incur huge amounts of foreign exchange expenditure on coal imports, which has seriously impacted the country’s foreign exchange balance sheet. It has become a huge issue on the overall economy of the country, which has compelled the country to get rid of the dependence on coal for power generation.
On the contrary, the earlier expensive energy sources of solar and wind have shown recorded decline in prices, and have become the most welcoming energy sources today. Sri Lanka has opted for these renewable energy sources which are of high abundance in Sri Lanka, aiming to achieve energy security of the country.
The country has experienced environmental drawbacks and social and health issues with the use of coal for power generation. The Government of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has pledged that there will be no more coal power plants in Sri Lanka. This will be in line with the ultimate goal of realising carbon neutrality in the energy sector by 2050. With a pragmatic approach of demand side management and the renewable energy supply enhancement initiatives, our no-coal policy will provide a sound platform for us to fast-track the journey towards high renewable energy percentage in the electricity generation to be achieved in the medium-term, and towards the carbon neutrality in the energy sector in the longer term.
Sri Lanka anticipates generating 70 percent of the electricity demand from renewable energy resources by 2030, doubling our 35 percent share of renewables in power generation today. This requires an addition of 11,000 MW of clean renewable energy capacity leading to an annual electricity generation of 21,000 GWh, with an investment of 10 billion USD. It will contribute to an annual CO2 emission reduction of 14 million tonnes by way of avoiding petroleum fuel based electricity generation. It is anticipated a further addition of 6,000 MW capacity from renewable energy sources to cater to the fossil fuel demand dislodged by transport electrification, which will again be supported by transport energy demand reduction measures.
With the target of realising 70 percent electricity generation from renewable energy sources, there has been a high impetus in the sustainable energy development programs in the country. The Sri Lanka Sustainable Energy Authority (SLSEA) took initiatives to come out with a framework of sustainable energy development program implementation, which will be supportive towards the realisation of medium-term and long-term sustainable energy development targets of the country. The SLSEA published the Corporate Plan 2021-2026, which spells out the project implementation framework on par with global developments in terms of energy transition.
The Sri Lanka Sustainable Energy Authority was established under the Sri Lanka Sustainable Energy Authority Act No 35 of 2007. It is the focal national institute for implementing renewable energy development in the country. Its initial target was to achieve 10 percent of the electricity generation using renewable energy sources by 2015.
National-scale uplift
As far as the implementation of programs in 2021 is concerned, activities were carried out in the two thrust areas of Supply Side Management (SSM) and Demand Side Management (DSM). Major emphasis was given to the priorities in the national-scale uplift of the activities in the two areas. Interventions in the implementation of large-scale renewable energy projects such as energy parks, Soorya Bala Sangramaya program promoting rooftop solar photovoltaic (PV) systems, regulations on energy consumption benchmarks and revised code of practice for energy efficient buildings, are the activities implemented.
The Renewable Energy Resource Development Plan 2021-2026 compiled by the SLSEA was opened for public comments. The plan spells out islandwide feasible lands for renewable energy project development.
The islandwide wind measurement program helped the SLSEA to identify the feasible areas for prospective wind power development projects. Rather than continuing the program as an islandwide wind reference station network, the modality was shifted to a prospective project site based wind measurement program. Two wind measuring masts were installed in Pooneryn and Silawathura to obtain on-site wind datasets for enhancing the bankability of prospective projects. The operation of wind masts will continue for two years.
A project proposal was submitted to the National Planning Department (NPD) to obtain financial assistance for installing new wind measuring masts to obtain the bankable wind data during 2022 in potential sites identified for wind power development. The NPD approved the proposal and forwarded it to the External Resource Department (ERD) as a proposal for seeking financial assistance. The locations included in the proposal are as follows.
The Department of Meteorology has established Automated Weather Stations (AWS) islandwide. The Department agreed to obtain islandwide solar resource measurements. The SLSEA assisted the Department of Meteorology to rehabilitate 12 AWSs, in accordance with an agreement for sharing data. Creating a major milestone in the implementation of large-scale renewable energy projects with the involvement of the Government in the initial project development activities, ready-to-invest projects were carried out as ‘Energy Park Projects’.
In these projects, feasibility studies, environmental impact assessment, social impact assessment and processing of obtaining lands, are carried out by the SLSEA in collaboration with the CEB and other related government institutions. Siyambalanduwa, Pooneryn and Mannar Phase II projects were carried out as energy park projects.
The SLSEA takes measures to have streamlined the programs in renewable energy development. Steps are being taken to identify lands for the development of renewable energy sources such as solar, wind and biomass in different parts of the country. Lands that are not suitable for agriculture and other purposes are expected to be utilised for this.
With a target of Floating Request for Proposals (RFPs) for the Siyambalanduwa 100 MW solar power project, preliminary project development activities were carried out.
Energy Park project
Project development activities of the Pooneryn Renewable Energy Park project continued. The main activity was the Environmental and Social Impact Assessment conducted with the assistance from the ADB. The consultant is WAPCOS Ltd. This study encompasses the overall scope of wind power and solar power development in Pooneryn with the capacities of 240 MW and 150 MW. A wind power capacity of 100 MW has been selected for the first phase of the project. The International Finance Corporation (IFC) has provided technical assistance for the development of Transaction Structuring Report.
The IFC team has completed its study for the first phase of the project. With the commissioning of the first large-scale wind power project along with high plant performance by the CEB in the Mannar peninsula which is the best wind power site in the country, initiatives were made to implement the Mannar phase II wind power project.
With the completion of the detailed design, ground information was obtained through a comprehensive drone survey. The social impact assessment study was started with the assistance of the University of Jaffna. The Soorya Bala Sangramaya program continued in collaboration with the CEB and the LECO. It could surpass the 400 MW milestone connecting over 30,000 rooftop based solar PV systems to the national electricity grid. The SLSEA continued its service as the prime program implementing agency.
With the understanding of the necessity of increasing the number of engineers and technicians for the rising demand in the sector, training programs were conducted even in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic. Extensive on-site training was provided for engineers and technicians at the Hambantota solar power demonstration facility by the SLSEA. A highlight in the training programs for solar rooftop system service providers was the introduction of battery energy storage systems with hybrid inverters in line with the standard that has been published by the Sri Lanka Standards Institution (SLSI).
Facilitations were made for government institutions to install solar rooftop systems in their establishments. Follow-up work was carried out with banks and solar service providers to promote loan facilities. Assistance was provided to banks to evaluate proposals. Measures were in place to obtain data from government institutions and conduct basic technical studies in relation to the proposed Indian credit line facility for strengthening the Soorya Bala Sangramaya program.
In the electrification of remote households, it is not economical and practical to provide electricity through the national electricity grid. The SLSEA facilitates that type of projects through the use of renewable energy sources in off-grid electricity systems. Under the initiative, technical assistance was provided for networking rural hydro power plants in Meemure, Udagal Debokka and Galamuduna. Electricity was provided for Gala Muduna, Urugaldebokka and Madakale using solar PV systems with mini-grid battery storage systems. Technical assistance was provided to develop rural hydropower plants at Kalukandawa, Palindanuwara.
The SLSEA operates renewable energy demonstration plants and Indurana mini hydro power training facility and Hambantota solar power training facility to promote renewable energy and provide on-line training facilities for different target groups.
Renewable energy resource allocation and project facilitation continued with a considerable progress in the registration of tendered solar power projects with the SLSEA and the issuance of energy permits for them. Some 101 projects were registered and 89 energy permits have been issued for 1 MW projects. Provisional approval has been issued for 81 projects with a capacity of 57 MW under the 150 MW solar tender.
The SLSEA got involved in the EU-assisted THREE Lanka project which is being carried out with the involvement of local universities and foreign experts, to develop skill levels in Sri Lanka for sustainable energy development through knowledge exchange with the universities of the European Union.