Transition to renewables: Opportunities and challenges
Renewable energy.
Energy is a critical need for modern day human society. Access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy has been identified as a key development goal by the UN. Fossil fuels dominate the global energy mix at present, supplying over 80 per cent of the world’s consumption. With the foreign exchange reserve crisis, the reliance on imported fossil fuels has ultimately resulted in an energy crisis for Sri Lanka, threatening the country’s energy security. The looming economic crisis makes it almost certain that Sri Lanka (SL) will face much difficulty in the near future in catering its energy needs through imported supplies. As a developing economy that does not possess its own indigenous fossil fuel reserves, it is clear that we need to find an alternative way to resolve this situation.
Why do we need to make the shift to renewables?
Recent targets put forth by the SL Government aim to generate 70 per cent of the country’s electricity supply through renewables by 2030, leading to a carbon neutral status by 2050. These targets are now being incorporated to the Long-Term Generation Expansion Plan of the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB). Thus, there will be no new coal power plants established in the future. On a positive note, implementing this vision reduces the reliance on imported fossil fuels by replacing their supply with locally available renewable resources, and enhances the country’s energy security. Spending precious foreign exchange revenue to import fossil fuels can be reduced. If successfully engineered, it can contribute to a tremendous economic boom in the country, by reducing the reliance on imported fossil fuels, developing local industries, supporting the industrial development and social progress through an affordable energy supply, and creating new employment opportunities. Moreover, the government has also committed to Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. The proposed renewable energy shift can help in meeting these carbon targets.
However, there are discussions and debates in the energy sector about the viability and the implementation practicality of this highly ambitious target. The problem we’re facing now is, whether it is truly possible for SL as a country to achieve a self-sufficient, reliable, and most importantly, an affordable energy supply by making a drastic switch to renewables within a short time frame.
Challenges ahead
Energy transition is not merely shifting from fossil fuel plants to solar and wind power plant; it needs to consider aspects related to energy storage, grid management and power systems infrastructure, and supply chains for raw material inputs and system components. Further, energy generation planning is interconnected with other economic sectors and is tied with the environment impacts, economic progress, and societal wellbeing of a country. Thus shifting from fossil fuels to renewable energy while resolving the ongoing energy crisis, is a big challenge.
One example of this in the SL energy scenario is phasing out coal-based thermal energy. Due to its lower cost compared to other energy sources, coal became the popular fuel in developing and transitioning economies. With the global climate action initiatives, coal is facing market barriers and carbon taxes. And still, the national expenditure on importing coal for energy needs of the country imposes a significant economic burden.
On the face of it, it appears that reducing coal imports by substituting coal power with locally available renewables will reduce the expense on energy imports. However, the big picture goes beyond this scope. Most of the components, equipment, and technologies needed for the energy sector are imported from abroad. Consider solar energy as a replacement. Firstly, solar appears to be “free” on the face of it, but panels, inverters, and other system components are imported items. Secondly, the intermittent nature of solar energy makes it essential for energy storage mechanisms to be integrated to the electricity grid. The infrastructure development for both energy generation and storage together are extremely costly. This puts the affordability of such an energy supply into question. Thus, large scale renewable energy deployment required for 70 per cent or 100 per cent renewable energy integration can be prohibitively expensive for cash-strapped economies like present day SL.
At ground level, other problems abound, especially when renewable energy integration comes into conflict with other industrial sectors, environmental concerns, and people’s livelihoods. There are many environmental controversies associated with both major and mini hydro developments in Sri Lanka from the past. Diverting the waterways and spilling at dams can impact agriculture. Another example can be how biomass feedstock supply chains can compete with agriculture and other industries, in terms of land use and the utilisation of feedstock for alternative non-energy purposes. While many countries adopt the approach of growing dedicated energy crops (such as Gliricidia) to be used as feedstock, the arable land used to grow these crops is also used for growing food crops. All of these issues can also affect the stakeholder perceptions and social attitudes about renewable energy. In order to promote the renewable transition effectively, managing these concerns and attitudes is essential.
Solutions
Yet, with all these challenges, it is imperative that Sri Lanka makes the transition to become more energy independent and secure as soon as possible. The only truly viable way to make this transition successful is to develop local industries capable of manufacturing components and systems for renewable energy generation and storage technology requirements. However, developing the capacity of the local manufacturing sector to fulfill this requirement needs long-term planning and strategising. Viable and low-impact business models are an essential part of this transition.
The reason for many energy initiatives to fail across the world is the lack of planning for cost recovery on these high investments. Even supply chain development should distribute benefits equitably to grassroots level stakeholders and contribute to the development of the local economy by empowering the producers and suppliers. Another key necessity is to explore the best tariff schemes and incentivising models that can promote the adoption of renewable energy while also being equitable in terms of economic costs and benefits to all stakeholders, including utilities and consumers. Moreover, decentralised generation (via hybrid microgrids) instead of expanding the central grid system further may be the way forward in the future. Establishing community level energy systems with local microgrids to make use of the locally available renewable energy resources can be more cost-effective under certain circumstances, as opposed to investing on central grid infrastructure.
(The authors are attached to the Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Moratuwa)
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