An energy secure Sri Lanka

Empowered by the mission of guiding the nation in developing and conserving energy resources, the Sustainable Energy Authority marches forward aspiring after ‘an energy secure Sri Lanka.’ This endeavour however, would not function to its fullest without active public participation.
Let us be supportive.
The Nation seeks the way

By Nimashi Amaleeta
They called him ‘Bossa.’ Bossa was of a rare breed. He was strict with time and didn’t entertain idleness. No sooner had I introduced myself to him, the first thing he did was operate a blinking gadget on his table and say “I’ll give you 20 minutes and when this starts illuminating in red, you better leave the room!” Naturally, I felt scared. I glanced at it on and off hoping it to go red and explode at any moment. Suddenly, the colour did change and I almost choked. “Is that red?” I asked in horror. “No, it’s orange,” he replied with a grin. I was relieved. Strange alright, but Bossa wasn’t that unfriendly after all. And he did allocate more than just 20 minutes to The Nation, even though the gadget blinked red.

Bossa, or rather boss, was actually Deputy Director General, Engineer Harsha Wickramasingha of the Sri Lanka Sustainable Energy Authority (SEA). This organisation, operating within the Power and Energy Ministry came into being on October 1, 2007. “It was the government’s way of responding to the need of achieving sustainability in energy generation and use in Sri Lanka,” explained the engineer reflecting on the advent of the organisation.

At present, Sri Lanka fulfils 43% of its energy requirement with importations. The year 2006 showed a sharp increase in oil imports, which in turn, consumed over 1/4th of Sri Lanka’s export earnings. This trend, by all means needs to be reversed. Accordingly, the SEA focuses on remedying the trend by guiding the nation to develop and conserve global as well as indigenous energy resources through exploration, facilitation, research and knowledge management. This also empowers Sri Lanka to gain energy security through sustainable practices. “Energy security of the individual, as well as the nation as a whole, is our responsibility,” assured the engineer.

Oil crisis and Sri Lanka
Whenever the oil prices escalate and Sri Lanka’s economy succumbs to chaos, it is customary of us to point the finger at incumbent governments rebuking everyone under the sun. But have we ever pondered what the driving factors behind these crises are? Engineers Harsha Wickramasingha and Athula Jayathunga of the SEA offer plausible explanations reflecting how they affect energy generation in Sri Lanka.

“We have two levels in the energy crisis,” explained Wickramasingha. “One is the global crisis and the other is the national crisis. The world discovered oil approximately 150 years ago. But by now we have consumed a greater part of it and therefore oil resources are becoming a luxury commodity. This inevitably results in the ever escalating prices, at the same time, limiting access to this resource. As a result, in the future, only the affluent crowd would have access to it. “Whoever controls oil controls the world! This creates the global crisis,” he opined.

Reflecting on power generation (generation of electricity) in Sri Lanka, Wickramasingha said, “78 % of Sri Lanka’s population has access to electricity.” This figure is expressed as a ratio of the number of houses with electricity against the total number of houses in Sri Lanka. “This value places us among the best in developing countries. The corresponding value in India is far less than 50%, while it is much worse in countries like Bangladesh and Nepal,” he pointed out.

“In Sri Lanka, petroleum drags the base load in power generation, contributing roughly around 41% while hydropower generates around 8% and wind generates around 6%,” added Engineer Athula Jayatunga. He said that presently, our base load comes from petroleum. Therefore, if Sri Lanka continues to rely on imported energy, we would very soon face a crisis situation – the national crisis. Hence, to remedy this crisis, Sri Lanka should shift its focus from imported energy sources to indigenous (our own) energy sources.

“This shift can be achieved via two approaches,” explained Wickramasingha. The first is technically termed as ‘improved consumption of energy efficiency.’ It includes cutting down on fossil fuel importations, switching off unnecessary lights, substituting CFL bulbs, improved road networks (for transportation)etc. “This is very important. For example, if we give free CFL bulbs to every household in the country, we would be saving 300,000 kilowatt hours per day!”

The second approach is to develop our own resources like biomass, hydro power, solar, windetc. When asked about the practical applicability of these two approaches, Wickramasingha said that the SEA is planning a threefold implementation programme. One is to phase out the use of all incandescent lamps within the next three years. Secondly, the SEA will convert the oil-powered thermal base to a biomass-powered base. Thirdly, the SEA would commission a massive public awareness campaign, targeting efficient energy consumption in the power generation sector and wise road use in the transportation sector.

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Renewable energy holds much promise

Sri Lanka is endowed with several forms of renewable energy resources. Among them, the main renewable energy resources are biomass, hydropower, solar and wind. These are also termed indigenous resources, because they are found within the country. The imported forms, like petroleum, coal, natural gases are known as global resources.

Biomass is the most common source of energy in Sri Lanka. It comes in the form of fuel wood, municipal, industrial and agricultural waste. Fuel wood is primarily used for cooking process in the domestic sector. Growing of fuel wood though, for electricity generation is deeply debated due to its environmental concerns. According to the SEA, however, the concept of biomass based electricity generation – commonly known as dendro power – holds much promise in Sri Lanka.

Currently, hydropower stations are operated to supply both peek and base electricity generation requirements. Apart from the grid connected hydropower stations, there are several mini-scale hydropower plants serving the off-grid load. Many potential sites have also been identified for future development.

The potential for developing solar energy plants mainly exists in the dry zone. As estimated by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NERL) of USA, over most part of the dry zone solar radiation varies from 4.0 – 4.5 kilowatt hours per square metre per day. They have also shown nearly 5000 square km of windy areas with good-to-excellent wind resource potential in Sri Lanka.

Engineer Jayatunga also said that by 2017 the SEA targets to produce 100 megawatts from wind (a 10 % contribution to the national grid), 90 megawatts from biomass and 250 megawatts from mini-hydropower. “These figures refer to the most plausible targets,” he further commented.

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Did you know?

The existing electricity tariff structure

First 30 units cost Rs 3.00 each
Units 31 – 60 cost Rs. 3.70 each
Units 61 – 90 cost Rs. 4.10 each
Units 91 – 180 cost Rs. 11.40 each
Units above 180 cost Rs. 16.40 each

Most of us are not aware that some of the household electric appliances we use consume a lot of electricity. Following is a list of a few of the common appliances and their respective electricity consumption. Note the difference between CF lamps and incandescent lamps. Up to 80% of energy can be saved if incandescent lamps are replaced with CFLs.

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Tips to improve

Check on the following. Adopt them so as to reduce energy wastage.
Opt for CFLs
A CFL is speculated to save 80% of energy consumption. For instance, the light output of from a 60W incandescent lamp can be fulfilled via an 11W CFL.
Sparing use in rooms
Switch off lamps, fans, air conditioners etc, when leaving the room.
Check your refrigerators
Doors without proper sealing lead to waste of electricity in refrigerators. Also, the frequent practice of door opening should be brought under control. When placing refrigerators, please make sure that there is adequate space between the walls and the refrigerator for proper ventilation. If the refrigerator is exposed to direct sunlight, it could prolong the cooling process consuming more electricity. Keep adequate space among the items in a refrigerator. Don’t crowd it unnecessarily. Adjust the thermostat to maintain temperature as required. Let the hot items cool down to room temperature before they are put into the refrigerator.
Iron when necessary
It is always advisable to iron all clothes at once, for it will cut down on the additional heat requirement for initial heating up of the iron. Keeping the hot iron upright will reduce heat loss.
Opt for table fans
Use table or pedestal fans as far as possible. And replace mechanical fan controllers with electronic fan controllers to save energy.

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Dr. Nekaris, only a member of WNPS

February 28, 2008

Dear Reporter,
This is to inform you that Dr. Anna Nekaris is not affiliated to the Wildlife and Nature Protection Society as mentioned in The Nation, 24/02/’08 in the article titled
”Monkeys in the chalk circle”. She is only an ordinary member of WNPS.
Kindly give the same publicity to above facts in your esteemed paper.
Thank you,
Douglas B. Ranasinghe
President, WNPS


Reporter’s response
The web profile of K. Anne-Isola Nekaris, available online at www.lasuerte.org/facultyNekaris.html, reveals that she is affiliated to the WNPS. Please refer section “Professional Affiliations” in her profile. This website was last accessed by the reporter on 28/02/’08.

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Want to test your creativity? Here’s an opportunity.

Green competition                                                                                                                                                                 

In commemoration of the World Day for Water, March 22, the NGO Net Water has organised an islandwide essay competition. The adult category is held in collaboration with the Green Nation page while the school category is held in collaboration with the Kids Nation.
Title: “Water, the blood of life”
Age limit: 17 – 25.
Word limit: 1500 – 1600
Other specifications
Entries can be handwritten or typed, on a single side of an A4 sheet.
Entries should be posted to “Nimashi Fernando, The Nation Newspaper, Rivira Media Corporation, 742, Maradana Rd, Colombo 10” or emailed to nimashi@nation.lk
All entries should carry the name, address, date of birth, National ID number, name of the school/Higher Education Institute/ workplace and contact numbers as appropriate.
A single participant should only submit a single entry.
All entries should reach The Nation on or before March 31, 2008.
Three winners will be selected by the organisers and certificates will be awarded in September 2008, at their Annual General Meeting. Date and venue will be announced later.

The Green Nation is open for your queries, comments and contributions at nimashi@nation.lk