Dullas appoints Cabinet Sub-Committee to vet current power generation plans

By Ifham Nizam

Power Minister Dullas Allhaperuma yesterday appointed a Cabinet Sub Committee to peruse the current power generation plans and propose measures to mitigate possible shortcomings.

The Cabinet Sub Committee was appointed to strengthen the prosperity vision of the power sector, which emphasised that 70 per cent of the power generated should be from renewable energy sources by 2030.

On the recommendation of Power Minister Dullas Alahapperuma, the Cabinet Sub-Committee appointed comprises Ministers Vasudeva Nanayakkara, Bandula Gunawardena and Ramesh Pathirana.

The recommendations of the Ministerial Sub-Committee should be submitted to the Cabinet of Ministers within two weeks and its first meeting took place yesterday in Colombo.

It is the policy of the Ministry of Power to reduce the use of highly polluting diesel and furnace oil to five per cent in generating electricity by 2025 and to limit it to one per cent by 2030.

Under this policy framework, the future of diesel and other fuel power plants currently run by the public and private sectors would be specifically looked into, Power Ministry officials said.