The Progress of Sri Lanka’s Renewable Energy Sector Developments in Mitigating the GHG Emission

Abstract

Though Sri Lanka's current carbon footprint is much less than the global vale, the country's existing and planned economic developments which in turn raised the demand for power has resulted an increase in GHG emission. The GHGs are emitted mostly by burning of fossil fuels for energy generation including transport. Thus one of the most effective ways of reducing emissions is to use renewable energy sources. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the current phase of development in Non-Conventional Renewable Energy (NCRE) source based electricity generation and its contribution to in the mitigation of GHG emission in Sri Lanka. Literature reviews and expert interviews were mainly used as the primary tool for this study. The current government policies have given a target of 20% renewable energy by 2020. Though the relevant authorities have taken considerable measures to encourage small power producers, it is the economic and practical realities that are holding back the development of renewable energy sector to reach the said targets by 2020. Government's decision to phase out dependence on oil for electricity generation and coal being the least cost option has driven the future generation to depend on coal fired power plants. However, Energy Balance 2011 has shown that the introduction of coal power plant has already escalated the country's CO 2 emission. Thus to prevent Sri Lanka being a significant mark in the world map of carbon footprint, immediate measures should be taken at least to reach the current renewable energy targets by 2020.