Opinion

Does Minister Gammanpila contradict President on energy targets?

Published

4 years ago

2021/09/16

By CHANDRE DHARMAWARDANA

Energy Minister Udaya Gammanpila has told the Consultative Committee on Energy that Sri Lanka was “sitting on USD 267 billion worth of oil and gas hidden in the Mannar Basin”. Is the Minister abandoning the renewable energy targets of the President, and unwittingly planning to destroy the Palk Strait’s ecosystem (Rodriguez et al. 2007), and return to a future based on fossil fuels? Are we to breach the Paris accord, and spew pollution that the ADB costs at 7% lost GDP!

While the Minister dreams of under-sea oil and gas, the CEB and its apologists uphold coal and fossil fuels, while downplaying renewable energy prospects in Sri Lanka. Similarly, Professor Kumar David (KD), a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical Engineers, writes frequently on Energy policy and takes a pessimistic prognosis for renewable energy in Sri Lanka. KD agrees with the CEB plan to continue with coal and other fossil fuels for future decades. Specifically, KD claims that supplying even 70% of the “energy needed.” using renewable sources by 2030 is sheer fantasy.

However, identifying a problem is half-way to the solution. The Sunday Island (12-September-2021) carries yet another article by Prof. KD where he repeats his concerns. Let us use KD’s identification of the problems in renewable energy as a basis for further discussion.

1. Randomness and Unpredictability in Solar and Wind outputs

As KD puts it, “If wind or solar output falls quickly by a hefty amount, it is the same as the forced outage of a big unit like Victoria or Norochcholai, and the shock to the system is similar”.

Victoria is a 210 MW facility, while most solar installations are small rooftop installations. KD rightly targets the ADB installed 100 MW wind farm in Mannar, significantly in the path of migratory birds. Wind energy installations have unknown unpredictable and NON-LOCAL environmental effects. I am no fan of wind energy and oppose large wind installations!

In contrast, solar energy installations have only LOCAL environmental effects, and I have argued for smaller “distributed” solar installations, positioned on about 5-15% of Sri Lanka’s inland water surfaces, rather than on land. Floating solar and roof top solar units have small power outputs, compared to the Victoria hydro-power plant! They can be installed rapidly, without the decades of planning and construction needed for fossil-fuel plants.

Big lenders like the ADB go for big Wind or Solar plants, and fail to understand the need for “distributed power”. Instead of a large solar plant, producing 100 MW and occupying a huge area in one location, let it be small solar plants (e.g., 5-10 MW) distributed all over the island. So, when clouds cover Mannar, the sun may shine in Monaragala or Hambantota. Although the output of each solar plant may fluctuate, the SUM of the many many solar plants DISTRIBUTED over the island will average to a steadier power output – the central limit theorem!

The problem envisaged by Professor KD is created when the CEB and the ADB opt for a 100 MW wind-power plant, without setting up similar plants in several places that balance out freak fluctuations. Such balance is out as Lanka lacks contrasting sites that can support 100 MW solar or wind farms. In contrast, Lanka has sufficient potential in deploying FLOATING SOLAR PANELS at 5-10 mw level and should prioritise floating solar.

Cloud cover fluctuations occur at the scale of many minutes, whereas a crest of electrical energy from panels in Mannar, can combine with a trough of energy from panels in Monaragala in less than a thousandth of a second, because electricity travels effectively at the speed of light.

Optimally handling power fluctuations in distributed arrays is a mature subject. In Hawaii too, the erratic fluctuations in solar energy, due to changing cloud cover is a problem. According to Dave Renne of the US-National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Colorado, the Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative set up a measurement system and data sourcing that enabled the NREL team “to set up a solar-monitoring network that simulates exactly how clouds would impact a large photovoltaic system”. While Hawaii can profit from the US satellite data available to one-second precision, neither the CEB nor the sustainable energy organisations in Sri Lanka have any such data capability. Such research shortcomings can only be overcome by setting up a power-research institute (PRI), where an interdisciplinary team of scientists and engineers will work on these frontier problems.

In the following I argue that Sri Lanka can use its unique Hydro-power reservoir system for storing solar power, generated during the day by shutting off some turbines and conserving the corresponding amount of water in the reservoir for later use. Batteries are NOT needed.

2. Poor Sunshine in Sri Lanka

Prof. KD says that Sri Lanka is “not the Gobi Desert, Atacama or the Australian outbacks”. Interestingly, the available sunshine data for Sri Lanka are largely from US satellites and from scientists at the NREL in Colorado. Dave Renne et al. of NREL notes that the tropical clouds and humidity are a drawback except in certain times of the year, and yet conclude that “the annual results for Sri Lanka range from 4.5 to 6.0 kWh/sq. meters/day (and that)..the study shows that ample resources exist throughout the year for virtually all locations in Sri Lanka and the Maldives for PV applications. So, the NREL experts are, in my view, in contradiction to Dr. Kumar David.

3. Saturation of Renewable Energy Sources

Apologists for fossil fuels claim that sources of renewable energy in Lanka are already “saturated”, while the demand for power is “ever growing”. According to them, there are no more rivers to dam, no good windy sites, and no readily available land for solar farms.

The Floating Solar Option

There are ample crown-owned water surfaces in Lanka for installing floating solar panels. The density of reservoirs (230 ha for every 100 sq. km of land area) in Sri Lanka is the highest in the world. Additionally, placing floating panels on reservoirs SAVES loss of water by evaporation, boosting hydro-power outputs and agricultural water by as much as 30%.

The floating panels reduce the sunlight falling on the water and curb algae, aquatic weeds, and aquatic oxygen depletion (c.f., Exley et al., Solar Energy, Volume 219, 2021). The use of even 20% surface coverage is environmentally beneficial and aquatic organisms thrive better.

The current population of 21.2m is expected to reach a plateau of 22m (plus or minus 3%) by 2039 and then decrease. Hence, we anticipate a maximum power demand of 44 Terawatt hours (TWh) per annum for Sri Lanka, if Lankan’s are to enjoy the same standard of living as in the EU, with a per capita power consumption of 2000 Kwh per annum. The present supply is 16.6TWh from the existing hydroelectric and fossil-fuel power stations. Rounding off the 44TWh upwards to 50TWh, as the maximum ceiling of power needed, we need to generate an ADDITIONAL 34TWh to satisfy Lanka’s power needs to reach EU life standards in 2039, when the population peaks.

According to Professor David “The output for a one square-kilometre site in Puttalam, the NCP, NP or Hambantota will be about 150 GWh per year” ((https://www.colombotelegraph.com/index.php/impediments-to-a-better-ceb/)

Hence, generating the additional 34TWh will need an area of about 22,666 ha. The area occupied by major lakes, rivers and reservoirs in Sri Lanka is 375,000 ha (c.f., Somasundaram et al 2020), with some 160,000 ha covered by reservoirs (tanks). That is, covering a mere 14% of the available reservoir surfaces with floating solar, is sufficient to achieve the EU standard of consumption of electricity at the peak of Sri Lanka’s population growth.

Prof. KD’s estimate of 150 GWh per sq. km of solar is based on the current photo-voltaics with an efficiency of about 10%. High end cells (e. g, used for space applications) already operate at 40- 50% and will become standard within a decade.

Unlike in 2009 when these ideas were first suggested (see https://dh-web.org/place.names/posts/dev-tech-2009.ppt) to officials of the Presidential Secretariat by the author, today an even stronger case exists for running a pilot project.

In conclusion, with solar cells at 10%-50% efficiency, a mere 14%-3% coverage of the available reservoir surfaces with floating solar panels would be sufficient to meet ALL of Sri Lanka’s future power needs, at a per capita consumption of 2000kWh per annum, even when the population peaks in 2039, assuring even an EU standard of living.

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Opinion

Jeffrey: Cartoonist par excellence

Published

9 hours ago

2026/01/7

Sahan Weerasooriya

If there exists a print media personality who does not receive the due recognition and appreciation he rightfully deserves, it undoubtedly is ‘Jeffrey’ of The Island newspaper. The works of many a journalist have been frequently highlighted and appreciated but the capabilities and efficiency of personnel of the calibre of ‘Jeffrey ‘ are, more or less, taken for granted.

In every sphere of life, professional or occupational, there are people who function, not necessarily from behind the scenes, but nevertheless perform an equally efficient service, which in all probability goes unnoticed.

To be frank, even before reading the headlines of the Newspaper, as is customary now, my eyes seek for the Cartoon of the day. Indeed, a sight for sore eyes each morning, the lovable ‘Jeffrey’ makes my day.

Suffice to say that a ‘Good Job done man’ type of occasional pat on the back, to a person who puts his very soul into his work, would touch the only place where it matters the most – his heart. If a smile could work wonders, then how much further would a word of appreciation go.

‘Jeffrey ‘ has, time and again through his cartoons, aptly proven his innovative and creative skills to present factual depiction of current affairs, both local and global. His drawing pen effortlessly covers all boundaries, irrespective of whatever nature. On a previous occasion, too, I have openly commended his abilities, finding it difficult to fathom how he could convey pertinent incidents, normally requiring hundreds of words to express, with a single drawing.

To all intents and purposes, ‘Jeffrey ‘ ranks much higher and could be considered as a rare find when compared with the numerous others actively engaged in this particular field of professionalism.

In ‘Jeffrey ‘, The Island newspaper indeed has a Cartoonist par excellence!

Jeffrey, more power to your elbow!

WILLIAM PHILLIPSZ

Opinion

Anti-aging injection shows promise in re-growing knee cartilage

Published

9 hours ago

2026/01/7

Sahan Weerasooriya

Scientists at Stanford Medicine have reported a discovery that could change how arthritis and joint damage are treated. In experiments on animals and human tissue, researchers found that blocking a protein linked to aging can restore worn cartilage in the knee and prevent arthritis after injury. The treatment works not by adding stem cells, but by reprogramming existing cartilage cells to behave in a more youthful way.

In aging mice, an injectable drug rebuilt knee cartilage that normally thins with age. In mice with knee injuries similar to anterior cruciate ligament tears, the same treatment prevented the onset of arthritis, a condition that often follows such injuries in humans. A pill form of the drug is already being tested in early clinical trials for age-related muscle weakness, raising hopes that a similar approach could one day be used for joints.

Human knee cartilage removed during joint replacement surgery also responded to the treatment. When exposed to the drug in the laboratory, the tissue began forming new cartilage that resembled healthy, functional joint cartilage. These findings suggest that cartilage lost to aging or arthritis might eventually be restored through injections into the joint or even oral medication, potentially reducing the need for knee and hip replacements.

Osteoarthritis affects about one in five adults in the United States and costs tens of billions of dollars annually in direct health care spending. Despite its prevalence, there is no drug that can stop or reverse the disease. Current treatment focuses on pain relief, physical therapy and, in advanced cases, joint replacement surgery.

The new therapy targets a protein known as 15-PGDH, which increases in the body with age. The research team classifies it as a gerozyme, a type of enzyme that contributes to the gradual decline of tissue function over time. Previous work from the same group showed that rising levels of 15-PGDH weaken muscles with age. Blocking the protein restored muscle strength and endurance in older mice, while forcing young mice to produce it caused muscle loss.

Unlike muscle, bone or blood, cartilage does not rely on stem cells to repair itself. Instead, cartilage cells called chondrocytes can change their gene activity. By inhibiting 15-PGDH, researchers found that these cells reverted to a more youthful state and began producing healthy cartilage again.

“This is a new way of regenerating adult tissue, and it has significant clinical promise for treating arthritis due to aging or injury,” said Helen Blau, professor of microbiology and immunology at Stanford and a senior author of the study.

There are three main types of cartilage in the body. Elastic cartilage forms flexible structures like the outer ear. Fibrocartilage is tough and shock absorbing, found between spinal vertebrae. Hyaline cartilage, also called articular cartilage, is smooth and glossy and allows joints such as the knees, hips and shoulders to move with minimal friction. Osteoarthritis mainly affects this last type.

The disease develops when joints are stressed by aging, injury or excess weight. Chondrocytes begin releasing inflammatory molecules and breaking down collagen, the main structural protein of cartilage. As collagen is lost, cartilage thins and softens, leading to pain, swelling and stiffness. Articular cartilage rarely regenerates on its own, and attempts to find stem cells capable of rebuilding it have largely failed.

In the new study, researchers compared knee cartilage from young and old mice and found that levels of 15-PGDH roughly doubled with age. When older mice were treated with a drug that blocks the protein, either throughout the body or directly in the joint, their knee cartilage thickened and regained function. Importantly, the new tissue was true hyaline cartilage rather than weaker fibrocartilage.

The results were equally striking in injured joints. In mice with ligament injuries, repeated injections over four weeks sharply reduced the likelihood of developing arthritis. Untreated animals showed high levels of 15-PGDH and developed arthritis within weeks. Treated animals moved more normally and placed more weight on the injured limb.

Detailed analysis showed that the treatment shifted the balance of cartilage cells. Cells associated with inflammation and cartilage breakdown became less common, while cells responsible for producing healthy joint cartilage increased markedly. This change occurred without the involvement of stem cells.

When human osteoarthritic cartilage was treated in the laboratory for one week, similar changes were observed. Levels of harmful gene activity fell, and signs of cartilage regeneration appeared.

The findings are encouraging but still early. While safety trials of a 15-PGDH inhibitor for muscle weakness have shown promising results, clinical trials focused on cartilage regeneration have yet to begin. Even so, researchers are optimistic.

“Imagine regrowing existing cartilage and avoiding joint replacement,” Blau said. For millions living with joint pain and stiffness, that possibility now seems closer than ever.

Opinion

Why is transparency underfunded?

Published

1 day ago

2026/01/6

Sahan Weerasooriya

The RTI Commission has now confirmed what many suspected — although the RTI Act grants it independence to recruit staff, this authority is rendered toothless because the Treasury controls the purse strings. The Commission is left operating with inadequate manpower, limiting its institutional growth even as it struggles to meet rising public demand for information.

This raises an uncomfortable question: if the Treasury can repeatedly allocate billions to loss-making State-Owned Enterprises — some of which continue to hemorrhage public funds without reform — why is adequate funding for the RTI Commission treated as optional?

Strengthening transparency is not a luxury. It is the foundation of good governance. Every rupee spent on effective oversight helps prevent many more rupees being wasted through inefficiency, misuse, or opaque decision-making.

In such a context, can one really fault those who argue that restricting the Commission’s resources conveniently limits disclosures that may prove politically inconvenient? Whether deliberate or not, the outcome is the same: weaker accountability, reduced public scrutiny, and a system where opacity is easier than openness.

If the government is serious about reform, it must start by funding the institutions that keep it honest. Investing in RTI is not an expense — it is a safeguard for the public purse and the public trust.

A Concerned Citizen – Moratuwa