Sri Lanka aims for 20% renewable energy production by 2020 - But stakeholders say more challenge...

But stakeholders say more challenges need to be dealt with before target can be met

By Uditha Jayasinghe
The Sri Lankan Government is aiming to increase renewable energy to 20 per cent of total energy production by 2020 despite facing many challenges on policy, private sector investment and technology, the Government stated yesterday.   

At present Sri Lanka produces only seven per cent of the country’s total requirement through renewable energy but Power and Energy Minister Champika Ranawaka told a forum titled ‘Renewable Energy: The Future’ that the Government aims to reach 10 per cent by 2015 and targets 20 per cent in 2020.
Admitting that this will be a challenging task, the Minister nonetheless pointed out that the country had made a head start by focusing on large-scale hydro power plants in the 1970s.
“Sri Lanka has huge potential in wind, solar and bio mass, but there is a need for this technology to be evolved within the country so that we have a sustainable value chain,” he said, pointing out that transference of international technology was a key need.
“Sri Lanka is not a dumping ground for obsolete technologies, but we want innovators to help us evolve systems that can be effectively used locally.”
So far the Government has 225 MW of power from non-traditional sources of renewable energy. Over 700 million units are produced from renewable energy resulting in 1,800 million litres of fuels being saved, speakers at the forum stated. They also insisted that if the private sector is allowed to operate more renewable power plants, they could add at least 200 more MW to the national grid.
Private sector representatives also denied that the tariff rates of renewable energy is too high and opined that local companies have the potential to export their services to other markets with assistance from the Government.
They also called for better tariff rates, lower interest loans and clear regulations that would enable companies to begin business easily. Currently even obtaining land for projects takes as much as one-and-a-half years, representatives charged.