Jayana's Epiphany

17-year-old schoolboy comes up with a costeffective solution to the power crisis :

by Manjula Fernando

On March 23, 2016, a 17-year-old schoolboy sat at his table with a deep frown on his face. Having finished his GCE Ordinary Level examinations, he had bigger plans than his age suggests.

It took him not more than a few days to accomplish what he had in mind, but it involved years of reading and gathering information on renewable energy.

Finally he had in his hand a set of proposals for the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) - containing a number of pragmatic solutions and means to overcome the energy crisis the country is fast heading towards. His proposals, which were referred to the Committee of Public Enterprise (COPE), received accolades and the CEB has been asked to take serious note of them.

Jayana Damsara Jayaratne is a 17-year-old student of Ananda College, Colombo 10 who goes about attending tuition classes like any other boy of his age to prepare for his GCE Advanced Level examination in two years. It was not easy to get an interview with him, he was always on the go. He was selected to the Physical Science stream to pursue AL studies.

Well-documented

Despite making headlines in the media recently with a set of proposals he had submitted to COPE, with suggestions to overcome the looming power crisis feared to devastate the country's economy, he goes about his daily life shunning the limelight.

"My dream is to become an electrical engineer one day," he told the Sunday Observer.

Jayana Damsara

“My intention is not to ridicule or offend anyone or any institution. My intention is to help our country and ensure that we will never face a power outage of the kind we faced in March this year,” Jayana said.

His ambition is well-documented in his facebook account with a profile picture showing him at the Upper Kotmale reservoir, sporting a yellow safety hat, with the accompanying writing 'hoping to join the team there one day.'

"I thought about writing to the COPE Committee the day I heard on TV news that they were going to summon the CEB officials before COPE," he said.

He wanted to contact someone at the CEB after experiencing the constant power outages. Not knowing how to reach them, he saw this as a good opportunity to get in touch with them. "I thought if I send in a report to COPE, it might reach the CEB and someone there will go through my proposals."

Jayana with his family

He got on with his project with just a few days to spare. "I knew I did not have much time. COPE was to summon CEB officials on March 27 or so."

Energy demand

Jayana had done a lot of internet-based research on green energy sources - on the latest technology that the developed world was turning to and methods to popularise green energy, especially, solar power. He knew solar power was a costly affair but there were ways to reduce costs. "I am sure the CEB has the capacity to conduct research in this area," he said.

The more he researched on this topic, the more he became impressed with what he saw. He pondered why Sri Lanka could not embark on these projects, instead of coal and thermal power.

He says solar and wind power projects can be costly but in the long run, they were the most feasible for a tropical country such as Sri Lanka which has no domestic sources of fossil fuel - coal and oil - upon which most of the country's energy demand is dependent at the moment.

Although the CEB struggled with coal and thermal power, the Long Term Generation Plan of the Board has already concluded that the country needed to move away from these sources for good.

The student had explained suitable technology of solar power for small scale projects as well as mass scale projects and cutting edge technology of storing solar power, citing examples from other countries such as Spain.

He has made impressive suggestions to cut down costs. But the practical research needs to be undertaken by the CEB, as he says he has no means to conduct research on such technology.

"It's not fair to say these are my proposals. What I did was to select a few projects that had already been implemented in other countries and propose some of them, which I thought were feasible and cost-effective for Sri Lanka," he said.

Solar panels, he said could wear off after 25 years but with certain adjustments its lifetime could be extended. In the report he has referred to the world's first solar powered airport, Cochin Airport where the Indian authorities hope to recover the project cost in six years. It will be zero cost on power generation afterwards.

His explanations on the projects that he had come up with, well exceeded his Grade 12 knowledge, and we were curious as to how he acquired this knowledge, whether he had any close associates working in this sector. "This is my hobby. I began reading about environment-friendly power generation sources since I was in Grade 7," he said.

Jayana's father is a former lecturer at the Sri Lanka Institute for Development Administration (SLIDA) and his mother is a teacher at C.W.W.Kannangara Vidyalaya, Colombo 8. He has an elder brother who is a member of the British Computer Society (BCS) and works as a network engineer.

They have undertaken a trip to the Upper Kotmale power station where some of his fathers' students at SLIDA work. He has gained a lot of knowledge associating with them.

"I made it a habit to read things outside my curriculum and continued to do it during my GCE Ordinary Level," he said

Wind turbines

His proposals include the use of offshore wind farms, concentrated solar power as well as new technology on hydro power using flow water turbines. His comprehensive report, which was welcomed by COPE, also contained suggestions on backup systems, storage of solar power and methods to supply 24 hour solar energy.

Power outage

Explaining his love and enthusiasm for the environment and its preservation, he said his interest towards green energy was kindled by his science teacher in school, Champika Weerasinghe.

"Due to her teaching and mentoring, I was fascinated and developed a love for the environment. That was the beginning." He said he hoped the whole world will focus on green energy and Sri Lanka will make a rapid transition towards renewable energy, moving away from highly polluting coal and thermal power sources.

"My intention is not to ridicule or offend anyone or any institution. My intention is to help our country and ensure that we will never face a power outage of the kind we faced in March this year," Jayana said.