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THE FUTURE OF THE RENEWABLE ENERGY IN SRI LANKA

BY LCDR TR DANIEL
INTRODUCTION

1.

The fossil fuel reservoirs under the continents are fast running out. We are now

searching deep in to the ocean bed for fuel oil. Coal, natural gas resources are also almost spent. With everyday progression of technology, we are in need of more and more power sources and the Storages are running out faster. Within next 50-100 years, most of the conventional fuels Sources will be fully empty. Mankind is standing on the verge of a major energy crisis. Our existence of modern technology will be under grave threat if we don't find a solution now. The only way out of this problem is to look for help from nature. There is a plenty of energy that is present in and around us. We have to tap in to the sources of neverending energy and keep marching towards a brighter future.

2.

Energy is not only electricity, as most people seem to think. Energy is the capacity of

a system to do work, and as same as ability to do work. There are many numbers of energy sources in present world which use to generate power to run the world. Some of them are fossil fuels, nuclear power, hydropower, biomass, wind power and the solar power. But all of these energy sources can be divided in to two main categories. Those are Renewable and Non-renewable energy. Renewable energy is defined as a form of energy resources that is replaced by a natural process at a rate which is equal to or faster than the rate of which that resource is being consumed1. Renewable energy sources include2,
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www.energy.gov.lk/sub_pgs/energy_renewable.html, accessed on 04 May 12.

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a.

Solar energy from the sun, which can be turned into electricity and heat.

b.

Wind.

c.

Geothermal energy from heat inside the Earth

d.

Biomass from plants, which includes firewood from trees, ethanol from corn,

and biodiesel from vegetable oil.

e.

Hydropower from hydro turbines at a dam.

f.

Wave and Tidal power

3.

Non renewable energy is a form of energy resource which is hard to replace and

recreate by a natural process at an equal or faster rate than the rate which that resource is being consumed. Non renewable energy source included,

a.

Fossil fuels- oil, natural gasses and coal.

b.

Element uranium- through the nuclear fission process.

BY LCDR TR DANIEL

www.eia.gov/energyexplained/index.ctm?page=about_home, accessed on 04 May 12. 2

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AIM

4.

The aim of this paper is to examine and evaluate the future of the renewable energy

with respect to Sri Lankan context and to formulate recommendation for its optimum use.

RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES OF SRI LANKA

Geo- Climatic Conditions of Sri Lanka

5.

Sri Lanka is blessed with many forms of energy resources, due to its geo- climatic

conditions. Sri Lanka is surrounded by the Indian Ocean and located in the tropics between 050 55 and 090 51 north latitudes. The island receives much rain during the south west and the north east monsoonal wind regimes. The island itself consist with many geographical

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RESTRICTED features like flat terrains and mountains, low land mountain ranges and the central high lands. This variation on the land mass has a much effects on the cloud formation3.

6.

The mean annual rainfall varies from under 900 mm in the driest part to over 5000

mm in the wettest parts.4 Due to the bio-climatic conditions of the topics and the high rainfall, there is a high plant density in the island. As a result there is a plenty of biomass available in the island itself. Since the Sri Lanka is located in the equatorial belt, it receives huge solar radiation throughout the year. Geographical location as an island in the Indian Ocean and the tropical temperatures resulted in distinct wind regimes in Sri Lanka. All these conditions leads Sri Lanka to emerged as a country with an plenty of renewable energy resourced like,

a.

Solar Power

b.

Hydro Power.

c.

Biomass.

c.

Wind Power.

SOLAR POWER

7.

Sri Lanka is situated close to the equator, therefore receives an abundant supply solar

radiation year around. Solar radiation over the island does not show a marked seasonal variation, though considerable spatial differentiation could be observed between the lowlands and mountain regions. As estimated in the solar resource map developed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) of the USA, over most parts of the flat dry zone, which accounts for two-thirds of the land area, solar radiation varies from 4.0 4.5
3

KKVW Perera, Energy status of Sri Lanka: Issues, Policies, Suggestions (1998) p 143 www.meteo.gov.lk ,Accessed on 02 May 12 4

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RESTRICTED kWh/m2/day. Solar radiation levels remain as low as 2.0 3.5 kWh/m2/day over the high plains of Nuwara Eliya due to the considerable cloud cover over most parts of the day. Thus, a substantial potential exists in the dry zone of Sri Lanka for harnessing solar energy5.

8.

Solar energy most commonly use for heating, drying and electricity production in Sri

Lanka. The Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) pioneered the introduction of solar PV technology in Sri Lanka during early 1980s, and later they saw a significant growth due to the dedicated efforts of the private sector. About 127,000 households use solar PV systems at present6. These PV systems commonly used by people in the rural areas to light up their houses especially during the night as there is no national grid electrical supply is available. Other than those, it is used for garden lights, solar lanterns, solar powered street lights and solar powered traffic control lights.

Solar powered street lights

9.

As per the latest government policy declaration, Sir Lankan government is planning to

develop the frame works to achieve 20% of countrys power generation through the Nonconventional Renewable Energy sources by 2020.Island wide project from Renewable Energy for Rural Economic development (RERED) is in progress, aiming to electrifying 160,

www.energy.gov.lk, accessed on 03 May 12.

www.energy.gov.lk/sub_pgs/energy_renewable_solar_aplications.html, accessed on 18 May 12. 5

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RESTRICTED 000 remote homes from rural areas through the solar home systems, biomass and off-grid hydro systems.7

Geographic distribution of off grid projects approved under RERED.8

10.

The Sri Lanka Sustainable Energy Authority (SLSEA) has established the first ever

grid connected solar energy park in Baruthkanda of Hambantota, which also promises to be the first solar energy park in South Asia. The total capacity of the project is 900 KW. The

7 8

www.energyservices.lk/offgrid/introduction.html, accessed on 02 may 12. www.energyservice.lk/statics/geografics.htm, accessed on 12 May 12. 6

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RESTRICTED goal of the project is to provide clean energy through solar power generation. The project is estimated to generate 558,600 kWh per annum and this is capable of offsetting 860 tonnes of CO2. 9

Solar Energy Park at Baruthkanda-Hambantota

Problems in solar power Industry

11.

There are problems of introducing solar energy as a viable energy source in Sri Lanka

such as,

a.

The primary disadvantage of the solar energy is the high initial cost. That is

largely due to the high material cost for the semi conductor materials which is used for the manufacturing of the solar cells.10

9
10

www.enegyservice,lk , op cit. Robert Foster, Solar energy: Renewable energy and the environment (Aug 2009)p186 7

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RESTRICTED b. Solar panels itself required a relatively large area for installation to attain a

better level of efficiency.

c.

The efficiency of the system and the productivity is greatly influenced by the

location of the sun, presence of the clouds and the contamination in the air.

d.

During night time there is no any solar energy production. So the system

wants to be fitted with a kind of back up storage system.

c.

Less technical knowledge of the people about the functions of the solar power

systems and as same as the effective handling of them.

Advantages of Using Solar Power in Sri Lanka

12.

Eco Friendly energy source. It does not release carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxide,

sulphur dioxide or mercury in to the environment. So it does not pollute our environment as many of other electricity generation sources do. It contributes to decrease the emissions of harmful green house gases and same time there is no contribution for the acid rain or the global warming. It reduces the cost and problems which occurs during the purchasing and the transportation of fuel, due to not using of fuel to run the systems.

13.

As an Infinitive Energy Resource. The power source for the solar energy is sun.

Therefore it continuously produces ample of energy which we can use for our day today works while the sun is up.

14.

Low Maintain Costs. Many of the solar energy systems do not need to have any

maintenance throughout their life time. After the initial investment, no any expenditure due to the energy through the sun is practically free. There is a very short recovery/ payback period for the initial investment11.

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Ibid p 134 8

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RESTRICTED 15. Health and Safety Benefits. Still most of the rural population in the country are

using kerosene and kerosene lamps for cooking and lighting. Most of the time this has leads to respiratory diseases and accidental burning. Use of solar power can prevent this health and safety hazards.

BIO MASS

16.

Biomass accounts for nearly 15% of world energy supplies. In industrialised

countries, biomass supplies about 3% of total primary energy, and is used for heating, electricity and to offset emissions from coal-fuelled facilities. In developing countries, biomass fuel supplies approximately 35% of total primary energy, most of which is used traditionally for domestic cooking and space heating12. Traditional biomass accounts for nearly 52% of the primary energy supplied in Sri Lanka. Nearly 76% of our population still depend on fuel wood and other forms of biomass for their household cooking13. However the introduction of LPG for the domestic cooking some decades ago has reduced such use in the urban households. In addition the traditional small and medium industrial sector too has been using bio mass particularly fuel wood for their thermal energy needs. The Brick and Tile sector in particular uses considerable amounts of fuel wood from different sources.

Dendro Power

17.

Dendro power is the generation of electricity from sustainably grown biomass (fuel

wood). It is predominantly well suited to tropical countries such as Sri Lanka as the fuel wood can be grown rapidly and coppiced once or twice a month. Dendro using sustainably grown fuel wood can be effectively used to replace the use of fossil fuels for electricity generation and it can also bring many other socioeconomic and environmental benefits.
12

Pandula Andagama, Farmers, forests and fuel: Toward a new Biomass energy for Sri Lanka (1995) 13 www.energy.gov.lk Accessed on 04 May 12 9

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RESTRICTED Dendro power is a community-based power generating technology that includes all households in a village irrespective of their income level. It has great potential as a long term power generation option, both for grid-connected generation and for off-grid communities. Dendro power could also be an option to replace government plans for fossil fuel power plants with sustainable renewable energy options.

Gliricidia Sepium tree

18.

In Sri Lanka, nitrogen-fixing Gliricidia trees can be used as fuel wood as they are fast

growing and therefore obtainable in large volumes. Further it has relatively high specific enthalpy as a fuel wood14. Fuel wood plantations for Dendro can be established as a multi crop in home gardens, as an under growth in coconut plantations, as shade for tea plantations and as a multi crop for reforestation. This means that the biomass plantations do not need to replace essential food crops. All off-grid villages in Sri Lanka have enough barren land to establish fuel wood plantations in order to the generate electricity throughout the year from Village Dendro Schemes without interfering with food crop production.

19.

The Dendro power generation process consists of three steps:

14

Nassir Bassam, Hand Book of Bio energy crops: A complete reference to species 10

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RESTRICTED a. The growth of dedicated forests with fast growing tree species, having high energy yield.

b. Regular harvesting of biomass from the forest using coppicing techniques i.e. the tree as a whole is not cut down, but pruned systematically.

c. Biomass is transported and fed into the furnace of the conventional steam turbine/generator or fed into a Gasifier to produce a combustible gas that could be burnt in a diesel engine coupled to an electrical generator. Dendro technologies

20.

Direct Combustion. Combustion of raw biomass is the simplest method of extracting

energy with lowest cost, and therefore is the most common method of conversion. To generate heat, combustion of biomass has been widely used in the past. At present, it is making a comeback in many industrial applications. This can range from simple systems such 11

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RESTRICTED as stoves, furnaces and boilers to more advanced systems like fluidized bed combustion technology. However, straightforward conversion of thermal energy into mechanical or electric power results in considerable losses: it is not possible to raise the ratio of thermal to mechanical power above 60%. However, if the low temperature waste heat can be used productively, for instance for drying or heating purposes, much higher overall efficiencies can be obtained15.

21.

Gasification. The production of a combustible gas from solid biomass fuels has

become very popular and this is achieved through a device known as Gasifier. In gasification, solid biomass is systematically combusted under controlled conditions to produce a combustible gas mixture. The use of a wood Gasifier to generate producer gas can directly replace oil in thermal applications. In addition, by adopting combined heat and power systems, considerable savings can be achieved through generation of thermal and electrical energy and perhaps even exporting some electrical energy to the national grid. These systems are viable for tea and rubber industries as well as for any other industry requiring thermal and electrical energy16.

Dendro Gasifier At walapane-Srilanka

Benefits from Dendro power

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Semida Silveira ,Bio energy realizing and potential(2005) p 245 www.energyservices.lk accessed on 17 May 12 12

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a.

Every Megawatt of Dendro power installed creates employment for

approximately 300 people in rural communities.

b.

Unused land and agricultural small holds are ideal locations for the

establishment of biomass plantations and people can enhance their earnings by selling fuel wood to Dendro plants. c. Employment opportunities are also generated out of the need to establish and

manage fuel wood plantations and for plant construction and maintenance work. d. Biomass is a renewable energy source which is almost carbon neutral as the

carbon emissions released during combustion are recaptured during re-growth. However in practice not all biomass generation will be carbon neutral as transportation to the generation plant will generate carbon emissions. Nevertheless, with the rising importance of reducing carbon emissions and addressing climate change, biomass is becoming recognised as a feasible fuel substitute for conventional energy sources. e. The leaves of the Gliricidia Sepium tree can also be used as cattle feed or as a

substitute for Urea as a soil nutrient.

WIND POWER

22.

According to the Wind Energy Resource Atlas of Sri Lanka developed by National

Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) of United States, there are nearly 5,000 km2 of windy areas with good-to-excellent wind resource potential in Sri Lanka. About 4,100 km2 of the total windy area is land and about 700 km2 is lagoon. The windy land represents about 6% of the total land area (65,600 km2) of Sri Lanka. Using a conservative assumption of 5 MW per km2, this windy land could support almost 20,000 MW of potential installed capacity. If the 13

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RESTRICTED windy lagoons are included, the total wind potential increases to approximately 24,000 MW17.

Wind Farm at Hambantota Sri Lanka

23.

At present Wind as an energy source is used only in power generation and agricultural

water pumping, and that too, to a very small extent. Activities concerning the development of wind energy sources were first initiated in 1976 focusing on small-scale technologies, primarily for water pumping and electrification of remote areas. This paved the way for systematic studies on large-scale wind power generation to be undertaken by the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB), having got experience in small scale applications. These activities led to the launching of the first-ever detailed wind monitoring programme in the southeastern part of the country in 1988 by the CEB with the technical and financial assistance from the Government of Netherlands. In year 2003, a detailed wind energy atlas was prepared by National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) of the United States of America under a technical assistance programme of USAID. In 1999, CEB commissioned the first grid connected wind power plant primarily as a pilot project. The pilot wind plant is located in a

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www.energyforum.lk accessed on 14 May 12 14

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RESTRICTED 17 ha land closer to Hambantota town. The total capacity of the wind farm is 3 MW consisting of 5 wind turbine generators of 600 kW each18.

Work of wind turbine19

Benefits of wind power as a renewable source

a. Wind power plants emit absolutely no CO2.

b. The operation of wind turbines leaves behind no dangerous residues (like nuclear plants)

c. Decomissioning costs of wind turbines are much smaller

d. Land occupied by wind farms can find other simultaneous uses (agriculture)

Ecological impacts
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www.ceb.lk accessed on 14 May 12 http://mrwhite.net/?p=543 Accessed on 27 May 12 15

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24.

There are some ecological and other impacts as well; such as

a. some groups opposed to wind turbines because of the danger they constitute to the birds that fly near the wind farms.

b. Wind turbine may cause Electromagnetic interference (radio, TV, radar communica-tion )

c. Noise (Wind turbines produce mechanical noise mainly from the gearbox and the generator, but the noise can be reduced by careful design and use of anti-vibration couplings)

HYDRO POWER

25.

Due to the geographical configuration having a rain fed central hill zone, Sri Lanka

enjoys a good hydropower potential. The country has used this resource for conveyance of irrigation water for many millennia, and for power generation during the last two centuries. Early days of grid electricity generation saw hydro as the major component in electricity generation, accounting for more than 90% of the total generation. Recently, this component has been reduced to 35% mainly due to the exponential load growth, which cannot be met by this limited resource. Major hydropower potential has been fully developed with the commissioning Upper Kothmale Hydropower Project in 2010, totaling an installed capacity of 1,355 MW. However, significant portion of small hydro potential remains to be developed. Potential sites have capacities ranging from a few hundred kW to 40 MW, and the total potential is estimated to be around 500MW. Of this total, both CEB and private sector developers have developed 148 MW and Provisional Approvals to develop the remaining

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RESTRICTED capacity had been already issued. Thus, total energy potential that can be realized by developing this portion stands at 1,500 GWh (360 Thousand toe) per annum20.

Micro hydro projects Micro hydro is also known as village hydro in Sri Lanka denoting its community

26.

based operation. The village hydro concept introduces a simple turbine, generator and control system to areas with small water sources. The potential for village hydro is estimated at 1,000 villages covering about 30,000 households. A typical project will be an off-grid community of 25 to 100 households, interconnected through a mini grid, powered by a micro hydro system that can produce between 5 and 100kW. This technology has been confined to the central hilly areas of Sri Lanka and there are more than 250 projects in operation, currently providing electricity to about 45,000 persons (about 9,000 households)21.

Micro Hydro project under construction Badulla-Sri Lanka22

20 21

www.ceb.lkAccessed on 27 May 12 www.efsl.lk/details.asp accessed on 27 May 12 www.hydropowerinternational.com accessed on 03 May 12 17

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RESTRICTED 27. Communities have understood the potential for hydro power to be adapted to suit the

conditions in Sri Lanka and they have organized to introduce micro hydro systems themselves. A project is built, owned and operated by a volunteer society formed among the electricity consumers of a particular village. Communities can minimise the cost of projects through contributing to their construction and providing hardware such as cement, granite and timber. Tariff collections, loan repayments and maintenance of the project are totally handled by the society. World bank funded RERED (Renewable Energy for Rural Economic Development) scheme has become very successful in Sri Lanka under these conditions23.

Socio-economic Benefits of Hydro Power

28. Micro hydro provides more opportunities to generate income using the available power a. Availability of electricity can encourage young people to stay within their communities as they can power small businesses b. Grid can be extended to enhance public services such as providing electricity to rural hospitals, making it possible for health clinics to use refrigerators and giving schools the chance to use computers, radios and the internet c. Micro hydro projects use a locally available resource, water, with which communities are very familiar. With an amount of training and capacity building, communities are very capable of managing micro hydro systems themselves, including maintenance activities.

Environmental Benefits of Hydro Power

29. Reduces the use of fossil fuels as it can be used to replace their use for driving machinery, generating electricity and for lighting.

a. Green technology as it does not generate any greenhouse gases or heat.

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www.energyservices.lk accessed on 02 May 12 18

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RESTRICTED b. Micro hydro does not have the environmental impact for which large scale hydro systems are criticised as it uses only a proportion of the water in the stream and this is replaced only a short distance downstream.

CONCLUSION

30.

Many countries in the world have realised the significance of energy security. That is

to ensure an adequate energy supply, to be available at reasonable prices to meet the basic needs and economic growth. These countries feel that no other country should grip them to ransom. USA for example wants to be independent of Middle-Eastern oil. Countries like Sweden and India want to be totally self-sufficient. Sri Lanka, being an island nation, and with no proven fossil fuel resources of our own, should consider this approach very seriously. Oil price has reached now $ 100 per barrel and is still rising, Oil reserves are depleting. The demand for coal and other imported fuels is on the rise, while the cost of other imports is also correspondingly rising.

31.

From a global point of view, currently there are three main issues in the energy sector:

The cost of fossil fuels are rising, The impact of global warming and climate change due to emissions from fossil fuels, the need for energy independence rising from hostilities between nations, particularly in the Middle Eastern region. We in Sri Lanka are encountering our own problems in meeting our energy needs. The dual forces of ever-rising prices of imported gasoline fuels, and the steady depreciation of the Sri Lankan rupee with respect to global currencies, have resulted in unbearable economic pressure on the citizens of Sri Lanka. At present our contribution towards climate change from Greenhouse Gas emissions is very small. However, it will not be long before the developed countries impose conditions on use of clean energy as a pre condition for buying our products. Hence we require to be conscious of this aspect too. It is imperative that Sri Lanka looks to alternative indigenous energy sources to meet its energy needs seriously. 19

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32.

Most of the renewable energy technologies are not applicable to Sri Lanka due to

problems associated with their technical and economic viability. Geo-thermal power, Tidal power and Wave energy are not discussed in this paper due to their non applicability to the Sri Lankan context. But those such as Wind energy, Micro/mini Hydro power and solar energy are likely to contribute to the local energy supply at least on a small scale. Bio mass energy has contributed to a very large extent and is a proven/promising source of renewable energy for Sri Lanka.

RECOMMENDATIONS

33.

The positive characteristic of the Sri Lankan energy situation is that nearly 52 % of

primary energy consumption is renewable and indigenous. The remainder is fossil fuel generated and all fossil fuel requirements have to be imported. At present the Focus of the government and commercial sector is only on commercial fuels and generating electricity. The negligence of not addressing issues of the non commercial energy sector and servicing the vital functions of cooking and small industrial activities are not seen by the politicians or the development officials has created social injustice. As per the recent government reports 45% of the population live below the poverty line and cannot afford the fuels of high prices. The viable option is promoting and yielding the potential of countrys renewable energy sources.It is recommended that following measures to be taken immediately to create energy self sufficient Sri Lanka before it is too late.

a.

Absence of a clearly drawn energy policy for Sri Lanka has resulted the

government to take reactive and ad hoc actions time to time in energy related issues. Therefore well planned visionary and country suited energy policy; addressing current and future issues to be promulgated earliest.

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RESTRICTED b. Development thinking in the country promotes and favors only commercial

and modern fuels. This lack of awareness of the general public on renewable energy has created many barriers in implementing unpopular renewable energy Projects Island wide. Renewable energy to be included as a subject in school curriculum in order to make it aware for the younger generation. Media too has a responsibility to make the general public aware on the importance of renewable energy. c. As the large hydro projects have become to its threshold and decrease of

power generation due to erratic weather conditions, it is an eye opener for the country to switch in to mini and micro hydro power projects. d. Sri Lanka has the potential of generating approximately 24,000 MW per

annum from wind power as per the study but at present uses only 3 MW for electricity generation and a small extent of energy for agricultural and industrial sector. Sri Lankan government should take immediate measures inviting and encouraging private sector to yield this untapped energy resource. e. The efficiency of the solar panels has to be increased from 22-23% to over

40%. More wavelengths can be used; cheaper semiconductors need to be introduced and more efficient manufacturing techniques to be employed in order to make solar energy more popular among general public. Larger areas of Barren lands can be covered with PV solar panels. Alternate low cost solar energy storage capabilities will have to be developed as solar energy storage batteries are expensive and unaffordable to household consumers. f. Feasibility study to be carried out to find out the possibility to convert existing

coal power plants to Dendro-thermal power plants to link with national grid. g. Many High specific enthalpy tree species like Gliricidia sepia to be identified

to use as fuel wood in Dendro power plants.

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RESTRICTED Trincomalee 07 May 12 TR DANIEL Lieutenant Commander Student Officer

Word Count - 3987 BIBLIOGRAPHY

1.

Godfrey Boyle, Renewable Energy: power for a sustainable future (second edition

Bay-2004)

2.

KKVW Perera, Energy status of Sri Lanka: Issues, Policies, Suggestions (1998)

3.

Pandula Andagama, Farmers forests and fuel: Toward a new Biomass energy for Sri

Lanka (1995)

4.

Journal of the national science council of Sri Lanka, volume 27, 2009

5.

Robert Foster, Solar energy: Renewable energy and the environment (Aug 2009)

6.

Semida Silveira, Bio energy realizing and potential (2005)

7.

Scott Davis, Micro Hydro: Clean power from water (2003)

8.

Nassir Bassam, Hand Book of Bio energy crops: A complete reference to species

9. control

Janaka Ekanayaka, Olimpo Anaya-Lara, Wind energy generation: Modelling and

10.

www.ceb.lk 22

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11.

www.energyservices.lk

12.

www.energy.gov.lk

13.

www.efsl.lk

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