Electricity output dropped last year due to pandemic

The electricity generation for 2020 had been forecast as 18,542 GWh as per the draft Long-Term Generation Expansion Plan of CEB for the period 2020-2039, but only 16,304 GWh of electricity was generated, as per the Annual Performance Report – 2020 of the Ministry of Power.

This was mainly due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the ministry has said. Meanwhile, in 2020, 39%, 24% and 26% of energy requirements were generated from coal, hydro sources (Without Mini hydro) and thermal oil respectively. The share of Non-Conventional Renewable Energy (NCRE) sources was 11%.

The Ministry says that in 2019, a low-interest loan scheme was introduced, with the support of a USD 50 million loan from the ADB for domestic, industrial, and commercial entities to establish solar rooftop systems up to 50kW. At the end of 2020, a total of 337 MW of solar rooftops were connected to the national grid through 30,149 systems across the country.

Meanwhile, the total number of electricity consumers in 2020 was 7,216,933. 57,207 new connections were provided with electricity in 2020. 6,229,628 were domestic consumers, 69,088 were industries and 44,361 were religious establishments.

The Ministry says that in recent years the power sector has been producing increasing amounts of greenhouse gases due to the use of petroleum-based fuel. Given that Sri Lanka has promised to reduce CO2 emissions in the power sector, increasing the share of renewables is a must, it has said.