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| Sunday, 30 October 2005 |
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NCED to harness energy resources The National Council for Economic Development (NCED) that comes under President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, under Treasury Secretary/Chairman NCED Dr. P.B. Jayasundera has put together the top energy experts in the country to find ways of harnessing Sri Lanka' s Energy Resouces by forming a " Renewable Energy Cluster" under the NCED Secretariat. Power, a key factor that drives the country's economic engine, is to receive priority attention in a bid to provide consumers with access to affordable and reliable electricity. The Director of NCED Rohantha Athukorala said 'To insulate the country from devastating price surges in international oil markets, Sri Lanka must increase self reliance in energy and improve energy diversity. In 2004, the nation relied on imported diesel based thermal power to meet 56% of its requirement. Thus, the Government has now taken a prudent initiative to harness indigenous energy resources, while developing alternative technologies utilising imported, yet economical fuel sources such as coal" A high-level 14 member team has been appointed by Dr. Jayasundera. The team's objective is to develop a national strategy to exploit indigenous renewable energy resources - namely hydro, dendro, wind and solar - for grid-connected and off-grid generation. Under the experienced leadership of P. Weerahandi, Secretary to the Ministry of Power and Energy and supported by Prof. Priyantha Wijayatunga, Director General of the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka. The Cluster comprises Dr.Nishantha Nanayakkara, President of the Grid Connected Small Power Developers Association, Ranjth Fonseka, General Manager CEB, Saliya Wickramasuriya Chairman/DG BOI, Jayantha Nagendra, Direcor- RERED Program, L. P. Jayasinghe, President, -Bio Energy Association, M. A. Warnekulesuriya-Chairman Energy Conservation Fund, Tilak Siyambalapitiya, Consultant, R. H. S. Samaratunge, Addl. DG, Ministry of Finance, B. Abeygunawardena, DG Department, Ministry of Finance, K. D. Ranasinghe, DD Central Bank, Nimal Perera, Chairman, Ceylon National Chamber of Industries and Nihal Abeysekera, Chairman, Japan-Lanka Industrial Development Centre and one of the first actions of the cluster was to submit a proposal for the National Budget for 2006, highlighting critical issues for the industry's development in the coming year. The cluster concept has been exceedingly successful because one forum merges instantaneous decision-making with the complete spectrum of perspectives relating to that industry. Dr. Jayasundera said the 'Apparel Cluster' is a good example of what the NCED can do to help the private sector achieve the set objectives that will benefit the nation as a whole. As such, the 'Renewable Energy Cluster' has been given the mandate to establish a national policy and action plan to develop of the renewable industry in Sri Lanka. This will also entail setting up a unit dedicated to renewable energy under the Energy Conservation Fund, determining sustainable tariff methodologies for each technology, resolving technical limitations of the utility that restrict generation from renewable energy sources, structuring the required legal and regulatory framework to achieve national targets, streamlining approval processes and securing long-term debt finance for projects. The identified potential of indigenous renewable energy resources in Sri Lanka is substantial. The CEB proposes a further 411 MW of medium and large-scale hydro projects in their Long-Term Generation Expansion Plan. The Grid Connected Small Power Developers Association said that 500 MW of small hydro projects can be developed by 2010, given the right encouragement to developers. The Bio Energy Association of Sri Lanka has earmarked 1.6 million ha of marginalised land suitable for dendro cultivation, which can yield approximately 4,000 MW. The USAID funded study conducted by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory of USA and completed in August 2003 estimates 24,000 MW of wind power from 5,000 sq km of resource potential areas in Sri Lanka. |
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