The National Audit Office has, in a recent evaluation report on the process of developing renewable energy sources, recommended a coordinating mechanism to avoid delays in obtaining approvals for energy projects, and asked the CEB to comply with National Energy Policy and international conventions when it prepares the long-term generation plan.

Sri Lanka will not achieve President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s goal to increase the total Renewable Energy generation to 70% of total energy production in Sri Lanka by 2030, a performance audit by the National Audit Office states.

The new renewable energy generation, apart from hydro power, accounts for only 12 per cent of the total energy supply in 2020 and the contribution of large-scale hydropower plants is 25 percent.

In keeping with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and other global conventions, Sri Lanka is expected to increase the renewable energy contribution to 70 percent by 2030. However, the report observes that although the country has set up a goal to achieve the full transition (Balance in the Carbon Budget) of all power supply networks by 2050, according to the Low Cost Long Term Generation Plan 2022-2041 presented by the CEB, the power generation from renewable sources will be only 50 per cent up to 2041 and two coal power plants had also been included in the Generation Plan.

It has also been observed that steps have not been taken to reduce the length of time, almost two years, required for the complex process of approving renewable energy projects. The Audit Office adds that the Sustainable Energy Authority has been collecting applications and fees from developers for the construction of renewable power plants since 2017, but no action has been taken to implement these projects by the end of 2021.

“Only 13 solar power projects of one megawatt each had been added to the national grid from 2017 to the end of 2019. Applications are currently being invited for the development of wind power plants only for a capacity of 60 MW. It was observed that only 269 MW of capacity were connected to the main grid under the Soorya Bala Sangramaya Programme,” the report says.

The National Audit Office said that in September 2021, the Cabinet decided that Sri Lanka needs to generate 70% of power from renewable sources by 2030, that there must not be new coal power plants and that the country must achieve Carbon Neutrality in Energy Generation by 2050.

“Further, it had also instructed the Secretary to the Ministry of Power and Energy to direct the Chairman of the Ceylon Electricity Board to take immediate steps to prepare a Least Cost Long Term Generation Plan 2022-2041 based on the general policy guidelines applicable to the power industry by the Cabinet decision. However, the Ceylon Electricity Board had unveiled the Least Cost Long Term Generation Plan 2022-2041 which did not comply with the government’s new policy in October 2021. According to it, it will generate 50 per cent of electricity from renewable sources by 2041 and two coal power plants have also been included.

The new targets had been announced also by the President of Sri Lanka at the United Nations Energy Conference on 22 September 2021. Although it should be noted that the currently operating Lakvijaya Coal Power Plant alone emits about 5,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) per year, it has not been done accordingly,” the National Audit Office said.

The report also said that the National Policy states that it will reduce the length of time required for the approval of renewable energy projects through a central coordination mechanism, the necessary steps had not been taken so far. As a result, the Office notes, entrepreneurs are wasting their valuable time, money and labour unnecessarily and are discouraged and have to abandon projects and it missed opportunities to add new energy sources to the national grid.

“Although the policy states that the Ministry of Power and Energy will appoint a committee consisting of officials from government agencies and Line Ministries to coordinate the approval of renewable energy projects and land acquisition by the end of 2019, the committee had not been appointed until now. Failure to do so would have hampered the smooth running of the process and the implementation of the goals and objectives set out in the National Policy within the stipulated time frame and this was an obstacle to achieving the desired performance,” the report said.