Paving the way towards an Energy Secure Sri Lanka

ඉන්දීය රජයේ පුර්ණ මූල්‍ය ප්‍රදානයක් ලෙස ලැබෙන ඇමෙරිකානු ඩොලර් මිලියන 10.995 ක මුදලින් යාපනය දූපත් 3ක් වන ඩෙල්ෆ්, එලුවතිව් සහ නයිනතිව් (නාගදීපය) වෙනුවෙන් විදුලිබලය සම්පාදනය කිරීම මෙම දෙමුහුම් බලශක්ති ව්‍යපෘතියෙන් සැපයීමට නියමිතය.

කිලෝ වොට් 530 ක සුළං බලය, කිලෝ වොට් 1700 ක සුර්ය බලය සහ කිලෝ වොට් පැය 2400 ක බැටරි පද්ධතියක් සමග පුනර්ජනනීය බලය සහ විකල්ප කිලෝ වොට් 2500 ක ඩීසල් බලයෙන් ක්‍රියාත්මක වන මෙම දෙමුහුම් පද්ධතිය ඉදිකිරීම් USOLAR සමාගම මගින්ඉදි කරන අතර එම සම්පුර්ණ ව්‍යාපෘතිය  2025 මාර්තු වන විට අවසන් කිරීමට බලාපොරොත්තු වේ.

මේ සදහා ගිවිසුම්ගත වීම ශ්‍රී ලංකාව සහ ඉන්දියාව අතර 2024.03.01 දින කොළොඹ දී විය.මෙම අවස්ථාවට ඉන්දියානු මහා කොමසාරිස් සන්තොස් ජාහා මැතිතුමා, විදුලි බල රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍ය ගරු ඉන්දික අනුරුද්ධ මැතිතුමා සමග විදුලි බල හා බලශක්ති අමත්‍යංශයේ ලේකම් ආචර්ය සුලක්ෂණ ජයවර්ධන, ශ්‍රී ලංකා සුනිත්‍ය බලශක්ති අධිකාරියේ සභාපති ඉංජිනේරු රංජිත් සේපාල, අධ්‍යක්ෂ ජනරාල් ඉන්ජිනේරු ජේ එම් අතුල යන මහත්වරුන්  හා ආරාධිත නිලධාරීන් රැසක්  මේ සදහා සහභාගී විය.

The days are not far away when our agricultural land can deliver electricity while continuing to feed the nation. Imagine a greenhouse structure filled with intense agriculture technology doubling up as a power plant. All these are no longer science fiction.  

Agrivoltaics offers a unique opportunity to address both energy security in a land constrained country like Sri Lanka and its agricultural challenges. This project will serve as a model for wider applications for achieving sustainable food security and energy access in the country. Agrivoltaics is built on the innovative practice of installing solar panels above lands suitable for growing crops. The project's key innovation lies in transparent solar panels, allowing sunlight to reach crops while generating clean energy, maximizing land use efficiency.

Hybrid semi-transparent solar panels installed 2 meters above the tea plantation is projected to generate electricity to power for over 100 families, contributing to the national grid with a 24 kilowatt-hour (kWh) battery energy storage system. The project complements electricity distribution system to the community, LED lighting system lighting over tea plantation, groundwater pump with borehole arrangement to facilitate water supply for both the tea plants at the project area and the nearby estate community.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) together with the Ministry of Power and Energy (MOPE), and Ministry of Plantation Industries (MOPI) inaugurated Sri Lanka's first-ever semitransparent solar PV powered Agrivoltaic pilot project. This marks a significant milestone in the country's clean energy and agricultural landscape. The pilot project of 85 kW_p capacity implemented at the Hanthana Ratnasiri Wickramanayake National Training Centre, utilizes innovative semi-transparent solar panels to generate clean electricity while maximizing land-use efficiency and boosting agricultural productivity.

ADB played a pivotal role in bringing this transformative project to life and actively championed the Agrivoltaics technology in Sri Lanka together with the Sri Lanka Sustainable Energy Authority (SLSEA), Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) and the Tea Smallholders Development Authority (TSHDA), Hayleys Solar renewable energy arm of Hayleys Fentons was the contractor implemented this pioneering project.

The official inauguration on 29^th February 2024 jointly conducted by the ADB and the Government of Sri Lanka, marked the completion of the project and its successful transfer to the Government signifying a continued commitment to supporting Sri Lanka's long-term sustainability goals and creating a brighter future for its communities. The ceremony was graced by representatives of ADB, TSHDA, Hayleys Fentons, Ministry of Power & Energy, CEB, SLSEA and other distinguished guests.

Sri Lanka Sustainable Energy Authority (SLSEA) launched a voluntary energy labelling programme for LED modules, (LED Panel lights).  The event took place  on 29 August 2023 at the Auditorium of the Sri Lanka Standards Institution and it provided an opportunity for suppliers to learn about the voluntary labelling programme for LED modules, how to comply with the technical standards and the implementation procedure of the labelling programme. The energy labelling standards for LED modules have already been published as SLS 1740:2022. The standards specify the energy performance test methods, star rating criteria for LED modules, as well as the information that must be included on the energy label.

Local manufacturers, importers, LED module suppliers, officers from government institutions, and the Technical Committee members for preparation of the standards attended to this event. The voluntary energy labelling programme for LED modules brings a step towards promoting the use of energy-efficient LED modules in Sri Lanka. The programme will help consumers to make informed choices about the energy efficient LED modules during purchasing the lamps, and it will encourage suppliers to offer more energy-efficient products for sale.

The SLSEA is committed to promote energy efficient appliances in Sri Lanka. The voluntary LED module energy labelling programme is one of the many initiatives that the SLSEA is undertaking to achieve this goal.

Benefits of Energy Labelling Programme

There are a number of benefits of energy labelling programmes, including:

• - It helps consumers to make informed choices on the energy efficient products.
• - It encourages manufacturers to produce more energy-efficient products.
• - It helps reducing household electricity consumption and thus household electricity bills.
• - It helps the product market move towards energy efficiency.
• - It helps reducing energy demand and thus reducing greenhouse gas emissions. 

How to get the Energy Label for LED Lamps

To display the energy label, the products (LED modules) shall comply with the SLS 1740:2022. If the product complies with the requirements given in the standard and it’s energy performance is higher than the specified minimum level in the standard, star rating (from one star to five stars) is assigned to the particular model of the lamp. Then the supplier can fix the energy label with the particular star rating on the product. The number of stars appearing on the curved band depicts the energy rating determined for the particular model as in the standard. More stars earned by a module means higher energy-efficiency.  If the product does not meet at least the minimum energy performance level, no stars will be assigned to that product.  When the labelling scheme becomes mandatory, such products will be prohibited entering the market. It is expected to make the energy label for LED modules mandatory by the year 2024 by imposing regulations.

The energy label must be attached to the LED module and its packaging. The label must include the following information:

• - Number of stars permitted for the model
• - Rated power of the LED module in Watt
• - Energy consumption per month considering 4 hours of operation per day
• - Brand name and model number of the LED module shall be printed in the space provided
• - Average of the measured light output of LED modules in the sample, in lumen
• - Average of the measured power use of LED modules in the sample, in Watt
• - QR code

Voluntary labelling programme launching event

Hiruras Power Company affiliated to Windforce launched a 15MW wind power project in Mannar on 06^th August 2023.  The project connected to the national grid comprise of 6 wind turbines. The construction work was attended by local engineers and labourers and commissioned before the scheduled project completion date.

The opening ceremony was graced by Hon. Kanchana Wijesekera, Minister of Power & Energy, Hon. Indika Anuruddha, State Minister of Power, Eng. Ranjith Sepala, Chairman of Sri Lanka Sustainable Energy Authority, Hiruras Power Co. top officials and other distinguished guests.

A guest lecture was delivered by Eng. Harsha Wickramasinghe (Deputy Director General-DSM) of SLSEA on ‘Empowering Consumers Through Clean Energy Transition’ at CAA on 15^th March 2023 at Metropolitan University Auditorium.

It was conducted in par with the commemoration of World Consumer Rights Day by Consumer Affairs Authority in Colombo.

 Minister of Trade, Commerce and Food Security Hon. Nalin Fernando and other distinguish guests graced the event.

The Sri Lanka Sustainable Energy Authority (SLSEA) launched a pilot refrigerator replacement project at BMICH on 17th February 2023 to encourage refrigerator suppliers to join the voluntary energy labeling programme and educate the public on the Minimum Energy Performance (MEP) Label. The MEP label was introduced to 15 models of refrigerators offered by three major appliance vendors, allowing the customers to choose an efficient model for their next purchase. Chairman and Director General (DG) of SLSEA, Chairman of Lanka Electricity Company, DG of Sri Lanka Standard Institution and DG of National Engineering Research and Development Center attended this event.

The pilot project aims to replace 1,000 old household inefficient refrigerators with new MEP labelled and energy-efficient refrigerators in the Western Province, with an estimated saving of 480,000 kWh of electricity per year. This translates to an approximately 30% reduction in the electricity bill of a typical participating household. The pilot project will be used to measure and document the actual savings and test an elaborate network of disposal for discarded refrigerators and related hazardous materials. The pilot project is expected to be expanded to cover the whole country, removing 500,000 old inefficient units within five years, with an estimated saving of 500GWh of electricity (approximately 3% of the national electricity use).