Fast track electricity from renewable energy

Sri Lanka needs to fast-track processes involved in absorbing renewable energy to the main grid of the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) in a bid to overcome the present electricity crisis.

In the wake of a local dollar crisis and the rising prices of oil, gas and coal globally Sri Lanka needs to turn to renewable energy sources, a grouping of renewable energy associations stated at a media briefing in Colombo on Tuesday.

They noted that 600 applications were submitted for the EOI for renewable energy projects above 50 MW but the tender procedure is tedious and this needs to be expedited, they said.

In addition they noted that the CEB has to pay them Rs.25 million for generating energy for which payments stopped since last July.

The government approval process takes years to complete and the importation restrictions imposed on the sector has caused difficulty in obtaining required machinery.

Currently there are a total of 294 private sector renewable energy developer projects which have been commissioned. These projects have combined capacity of 718.334MW. The total number of projects needs to increase drastically for the country to reap the benefits of renewable energy. (Sunimalee)