Policy implementation and proper regulation, the need of the hour in energy sector
While decision-making has become a challenging task when ministerial portfolios keeps changing time to time, the power and energy sector faces severe consequences moving forward.
Sri Lanka is trying to go green but just like in Germany it necessarily takes policy implementation, proper regulation and infrastructure, German Ambassador to Sri Lanka and Maldives, John Rohde told the Business Times on the sidelines of the launch of Green Energy Champion 2019 held at the ambassador’s residence in Colombo on Monday.
Germany didn’t go green immediately, there was a transition. The country still uses renewable energy and fossil fuel, he added. “The rate at which Sri Lanka is moving towards green initiative is way too slow, the country needs to go much faster because it costs a lot, the more you delay.” He noted that Sri Lanka buying emergency power is not effective and it’s not cheap. It will cause a great burden on the Treasury. Businesswise, environmentally there is no alternative other than going green but it has to be implemented in a sustainable way.
There is room for improvement in Sri Lanka, he stressed. “Many tenders have been cancelled and taken too long to decide. The need to buy emergency power shows that there have been unnecessary delays because there is not enough power supply from the existing plants,” he stated. Minister of Power, Energy and Business Development, Ravi Karunanayaka who was the Chief Guest, mentioned that Sri Lanka must focus on renewable energy. “The country is going through a transition in maximising on wind, solar, bio gas, sea waves and hydro. Sri Lanka has been relying on hydro until today but it seems that the country is at a saturation point. Sri Lanka is moving towards renewable energy but unfortunately it’s a cost primitive factor.”
“Today Sri Lanka generates 4092 MW power. 1300 MW comes from hydro, 794 MW from renewable energy and the balance from thermal energy. The power generating cost is Rs. 22 whereas the selling rate is Rs. 16. The gap between the two means we lose a heavy component which amounts to a loss of Rs. 70 billion. The country must go towards renewable energy, but it’s not cheap. The average cost of renewable energy is Rs. 23 whereas thermal energy is in the range of Rs. 14,” he added.
He urged environmentalists to come up with solutions to tackle the issue. There are conflicting views pointed out by various parties on the present power generation processes. “Decision-making becomes miserable when the government decides to carry on with renewable energy and someone says why are you going for costly energy options instead of cheap ones. There is a 30 per cent gap between the demand and supply for certain necessity of supplementary generation of power. Sri Lanka is the last to add on emergency power,” he noted.
The Green Energy Champion this year allows private, public and civil society organisations to conceptualise, present and win funds to implement innovative projects involving renewable energy. The deadline for proposals is April 30, 2019.