Sri Lanka’s power grid soon to be connected to India’s power grid
Plans are underway to connect Sri Lanka’s power grid with the Indian power grid to boost power generation within the next five years. “The Sri Lankan government is already having talks with the Indian government on this project,” according to Chairman of the Electricity Board (CEB) Anura Wijayapala.
He was speaking at the Sri Lanka Economic Association Seminar held last week at the Department of Economics, University of Colombo on the topic “Emerging Challenges in the Power Sector in Sri Lanka”.
Mr. Wijayapala said it is a daunting challenge to supply electricity during peak hours every day between 7 pm and 8 pm where 2400 megawatts are needed on some days. “These days we need 15000 million units to supply electricity which is growing at 6 per cent every year although we have an installed capacity of 4000 megawatts”.
The CEB Chairman said that Sri Lanka had a small power system about 30 years ago but has grown into a larger system today where the demand for power is growing at 5 per cent on average and 150 megawatt power plants have to be constructed every year which is capital intensive.
“Today our power sector is regulated unlike any other sector where the Public Utilities Commission is guiding us where corrections are needed. When the Sri Lankan economy was liberalized in 1977 fewer households had access to electricity but today 99 per cent of households have electricity. We have had many programmes for infrastructure development of electrification projects. During the 1996 drought we had severe power cuts for six hours that also affected the country’s economy. In 2001 similar power cuts also affected the economy,” he added.
Referring to renewable energy, he said 50 per cent of electricity came from renewable energy which was a rare thing for many countries when Europe is struggling to get 20 per cent of electricity from renewable energy sources by 2020. “We are lucky because of our natural resources and due to correct planning. We have coal, hydro power, oil based generation and solar power generation.”
He said CEB revenue is over Rs.200 billion a year. Laxapana, Kothmale and Victoria hydro power stations are generating cheap electricity for consumers.
“Although there had been several breakdowns at the Norocholai Power plant it produces electricity for less than Rs 7 per unit. 50 per cent of our daily electricity is produced at Norocholai and at the Lakvijaya Power station. Although oil based electricity is less than 5 per cent in the world we produce 40 per cent of electricity on oil based generation which is expensive and a burden to our economy. Meanwhile several hydro power plants are to be built in the country to augment power generation,” he said.
Energy specialist Dr. Tilak Siyambalapitiya said that most of the energy in Sri Lanka is used in households and in commercial activity while the value of the energy market was about Rs. 811 billion.
He said he does not agree with many who say that Sri Lanka wasn’t energy efficient. “Sri Lanka is an energy efficient country compared to other countries in the region. However 40 per cent of fuel was produced in our refinery while the balance fuel was imported in to the country.”
Refinery modernization and expansion have been talked about for many years but nothing has happened. In most developed countries the use of electricity in households is 20 per cent while in Sri Lanka it is about 40 per cent. He said industrial consumption of electricity is going down due to smaller growth of industries.
He said Sri Lanka is an example for producing small power plants where over 200 small power plants adds 11 per cent to the national grid.
Chancellor of the University Moratuwa Professor K.K.Y.W. Perera and the Deputy Director General Sri Lanka Sustainable Energy Authority Harsha Wickramasinghe also spoke. Rev. W. Wimalaratana, Professor and Head of the Economics Department of the Colombo University presided at the seminar.