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| Sunday, 16 June 2002 |
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Cost-effective solutions to the Power Crisis : Coal Vs.Dendro Institution of Incorporated Engineers, Sri Lanka recently organised a panel discussion on "Technology options and limitations for Power Generation in Sri Lanka" - In search of fast, but lasting and cost-effective solutions to the Power Crisis at the auditorium of the Sri Lanka Association of Advancement of Sciences (SLAAS). experts The panel comprised several leading experts from the energy sector, and Dr. Priyantha Wijayathunga, Dean of the Faculty of Information Technology, University of Moratuwa moderated the discussion. It was a well-attended successful event of the Education and Training functional committee. Most of the members actively participated in the discussion. Dr. Tilak Siyambalapitiya, Managing Director Resource Management Associates, presented the case for coal fired power plants as the main technology option for base load generation in Sri Lanka in the future. He said that Sri Lanka needs many coal plants. According to him, coal technology has been well developed over many years and is being used the world over for electricity generation in a large scale. Therefore it is a well-proven technology producing electricity generation in a large scale. Therefore it is a well-proven technology producing electricity at the cheapest cost. The total world share of electricity generation based coal fired stations is 38% of the total, the largest share out of all the technologies available. Even by 2020 this share is expected to remain at 35%, while the total electricity generation from coal fired stations will continue to grow substantially in absolute terms. Coal technology is used for electricity generation not only in countries where coal is produced, but also in countries like Korea and Japan where coal has to be imported. energy Presenting dendro power as an option for electricity generation Mr. P. G. Joseph, Director, Ministry of Science and Technology, said that the word Dendro had been derived from the Greek word Dendron meaning tree and it was a technology where stored solar energy in fuelwood is used for electricity generation. Short rotation coppice plantations can provide regular supply fuelwood for such plants with a three to six month harvesting cycle. Twelve trial energy plantations of this type have been already established in different parts of Sri Lanka to examine the applicability of different types of species for dendro power. A 35kW demonstration unit has been already installed at Sapugaskanda site of Lanka Transformers Ltd. It is important that the generation system is developed to minimise the total cost of the system considering environmental and social impacts rather than limiting it only to generation plant costs. Also, it is necessary that different generation options be allowed to compete on a level playing field where both the fossil fuel plants and the dendro power plants are treated on equal terms. If this is done, the cost of dendro power based electricity will be comparable with that of coal fired stations. |
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