Abstract
Though Sri Lanka’s current carbon footprint is much less than the global vale, the country’s existing and planned economic developments which in turn raised the demand for power has resulted an increase in GHG emission. The GHGs are emitted mostly by burning of fossil fuels for energy generation including transport. Thus one of the most effective ways of reducing emissions is to use renewable energy sources. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the current phase of development in Non-Conventional Renewable Energy (NCRE) source based electricity generation and its contribution to in the mitigation of GHG emission in Sri Lanka. Literature reviews and expert interviews were mainly used as the primary tool for this study. The current government policies have given a target of 20% renewable energy by 2020. Though the relevant authorities have taken considerable measures to encourage small power producers, it is the economic and practical realities that are holding back the development of renewable energy sector to reach the said targets by 2020. Government’s decision to phase out dependence on oil for electricity generation and coal being the least cost option has driven the future generation to depend on coal fired power plants. However, Energy Balance 2011 has shown that the introduction of coal power plant has already escalated the country’s CO2 emission. Thus to prevent Sri Lanka being a significant mark in the world map of carbon footprint, immediate measures should be taken at least to reach the current renewable energy targets by 2020.
Highlights
The ‘Energy’ the primary building blocks of any nation’s development changed its dimensions rapidly over the past few years as a response to increasing environment and financial concerns
The total grid connected capacity increased to 3,140.7 MW in 2011 from 2,817.6 MW in 2010 (SLSEA Sri Lanka Energy Balance, 2011: 60), it has been presumed that with the current escalating demand, the need for electricity will be doubled by 2020 compared with 2010 figure, more precisely 5,430 MW by 2020 (RAM Report-Sri Lankan Power sector, 2012:7)
Though developing countries do not have such obligations, international pressure on developed countries & countries where their economies in transition urged the importance of taking early measures in reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emission
Summary
The ‘Energy’ the primary building blocks of any nation’s development changed its dimensions rapidly over the past few years as a response to increasing environment and financial concerns. Though the Sri Lanka’s current carbon foot print is much less than the global value, the country’s existing and planned economic developments which in turn raise the demand for power has resulted an increase in the GHG emission. Based on the published data energy sector is the main contributor to the (65%) GHG emission. Sri Lankan authorities have identified the foreseeable threat in advance and have taken mitigating measures in all the sectors including energy (Ranasinghe, 2012: 290). The policy decision to escalate the NCRE based electricity generation is very impressive and the targets are on par with the targets set by developed countries.
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