Sri Lanka's electricity demand is currently met by nine
thermal power station
A thermal power station is a type of power station in which heat energy is converted to electrical energy. In a steam-generating cycle heat is used to boil water in a large pressure vessel to produce high-pressure steam, which drives a stea ...
s, fifteen large
hydroelectric power stations, and fifteen
wind farm
A wind farm or wind park, also called a wind power station or wind power plant, is a group of wind turbines in the same location used to produce electricity. Wind farms vary in size from a small number of turbines to several hundred wind turb ...
s, with a smaller share from
small hydro
Small hydro is the development of hydroelectric power on a scale suitable for local community and industry, or to contribute to distributed generation in a regional electricity grid. Exact definitions vary, but a "small hydro" project is less ...
facilities and other renewables such as
solar. Most hydroelectric and thermal/
fossil fuel–based power stations in the country are owned and/or operated by the government via the state-run
Ceylon Electricity Board
The Ceylon Electricity Board - CEB ( si, ලංකා විදුලිබල මණ්ඩලය - ලංවිම, Lankā Vidulibala Mandalaya - Lanwima; ta, இலங்கை மின்சார சபை - இமிச), is the largest el ...
(CEB), while the
renewable energy sector consists mostly of privately run plants operating on a
power purchase agreement
A power purchase agreement (PPA), or electricity power agreement, is a contract between two parties, one which generates electricity (the seller) and one which is looking to purchase electricity (the buyer). The PPA defines all of the commercial te ...
with the CEB.
Per CEB's 2016 generation report released in mid-2017, the country has a total combined installed generation capacity of , of which 2,115 MW (52.65%) was from thermal (900 MW/22.40% from
coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen.
Coal is formed when ...
and 1,215 MW/30.25% from
fuel oil), 1,726 MW (42.97%) from hydroelectricity, and the remaining 176 MW (4.38%) from other renewable sources such as
wind
Wind is the natural movement of air or other gases relative to a planet's surface. Winds occur on a range of scales, from thunderstorm flows lasting tens of minutes, to local breezes generated by heating of land surfaces and lasting a few ho ...
,
biomass, and solar. These generation sources produced a total of of electricity during that year, of which , , and was from thermal, hydro, and other renewables, respectively.
Non-renewable
As of 2015, 1,464 MW of the total thermal installed capacity was from state-owned
fossil fuel power stations: 900 MW from
Lakvijaya, 380 MW from the state-owned portion of
Kelanitissa, 160 MW from
Sapugaskanda, and 24 MW from
Uthuru Janani. The remaining 641 MW of the installed thermal capacity are from six privately owned power stations. All thermal power stations run on
fuel oil, except Lakvijaya, which run on coal.
In an attempt to lower the current consumer tariff for electricity, the government has decided not to renew the
power purchase agreement
A power purchase agreement (PPA), or electricity power agreement, is a contract between two parties, one which generates electricity (the seller) and one which is looking to purchase electricity (the buyer). The PPA defines all of the commercial te ...
s of privately owned
thermal power station
A thermal power station is a type of power station in which heat energy is converted to electrical energy. In a steam-generating cycle heat is used to boil water in a large pressure vessel to produce high-pressure steam, which drives a stea ...
s when their licences expire, as it has done with the six now-decommissioned private power producers listed below.
The government will utilize the new Sampur plant combined with new renewable sources to accommodate the lost private-sector capacity, with plans to introduce
nuclear power
Nuclear power is the use of nuclear reactions to produce electricity. Nuclear power can be obtained from nuclear fission, nuclear decay and nuclear fusion reactions. Presently, the vast majority of electricity from nuclear power is produced ...
after 2030.
The 500 MW
Sampur Power Station
The Sampur Power Station (also called Trincomalee Coal Power Plant or TCPP) was a proposed coal-fired power station that was planned to be built in Sampur, Trincomalee, Sri Lanka.
The MoU for the first phase was signed on 29 December 2006, be ...
was in early stages of development since 2006, but was subsequently cancelled in 2016 due environmental concerns.
Prior to its cancellation, the
also made a statement that no more coal-fired power stations will be commissioned, making Lakvijaya the only coal-fired power station in the country. Any future thermal power stations will also be
natural gas
Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbo ...
–run, to reduce the nation's carbon footprint.
Renewable
Hydroelectric
Hydroelectricity has played a very significant role in the national installed power capacity since it was introduced in the 1950s, with over 50% of the total grid capacity met by
hydroelectricity
Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined an ...
in 2000–2010. Hydroelectricity was popularized as early as the 1920s by
Devapura Jayasena Wimalasurendra
Devapura Jayasena Wimalasurendra (17 September 1874 – 10 August 1953) was a Sri Lankan engineer and statesman. He played a prominent role in the establishment of hydropower in Sri Lanka and is known as the "Father of Hydropower" and was a memb ...
, who is considered as the "Father of Hydropower" in Sri Lanka. It lost its majority share on the power grid when further thermal power stations were introduced in 2010. The hydropower resource in Sri Lanka is divided into two main regions based on water resource, namely the Mahaweli Complex and Laxapana Complex.
While most hydroelectric power stations are named after their water source (i.e. the name of the dam and/or reservoir), a number of facilities have different names due to the fact that they are located larger distances apart (connected via underground
penstock
A penstock is a sluice or gate or intake structure that controls water flow, or an enclosed pipe that delivers water to hydro turbines and sewerage systems. The term is inherited from the earlier technology of mill ponds and watermills.
H ...
s). Further information on each power station is included in the corresponding water source article (i.e. dam). Privately owned "small-hydro" facilities (which are limited to a maximum
nameplate capacity
Nameplate capacity, also known as the rated capacity, nominal capacity, installed capacity, or maximum effect, is the intended full-load sustained output of a facility such as a power station, of by state policy), are excluded from this list.
File:VictoriaDam-SriLanka-April2011-1.jpg, The Victoria Dam fuels the single largest hydroelectric power station in the country, with 210 MW of installed capacity. Shown here is the dam during dry season, 2011., alt=Aerial view of the Victoria Dam, showing the closed spillways.
File:UpperKotmaleDam-Srilanka-April2011-1.jpg, alt=The Upper Kotmale Dam under construction in April 2011., The Upper Kotmale Dam
The Upper Kotmale Dam (also known as the Upper Kotmale Hydropower Project, or UKHP) is located in Talawakele, within the Nuwara Eliya District, in the Central Province of Sri Lanka. The dam feeds the third largest hydroelectric power station ...
under construction in April 2011. The dam is now complete and powers its 150 MW power station located 13 km away.
File:RandenigalaDam-December2013-10.JPG, The Randenigala Dam as seen from the Rantembe Reservoir in December 2012. The Rantembe Dam is located just 3 km downstream of Randenigala., alt=View of the Randenigala Dam and spillways from the Rantembe Reservoir, downstream.
Solar power
Solar power is a relatively young segment in the energy industry of Sri Lanka. As of 2015, only a few grid-connected solar farms were operational, including a state-run facility. Despite at least half a dozen private companies applying for development permits for
photovoltaic and
solar thermal
Solar thermal energy (STE) is a form of energy and a technology for harnessing solar energy to generate thermal energy for use in industry, and in the residential and commercial sectors.
Solar thermal collectors are classified by the United S ...
projects,
most have not actually commenced construction.
Wind power
Sri Lanka's wind power sector saw activity as early as 1988, when studies were conducted to build a pilot wind project in the Southern Province. More than a decade later, the state-owned 3 MW
Hambantota Wind Farm was commissioned. The industry stayed dormant till 2003, when the
National Renewable Energy Laboratory
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in the US specializes in the research and development of renewable energy, energy efficiency, energy systems integration, and sustainable transportation. NREL is a federally funded research an ...
conducted further wind power studies in the island, before which the industry went into dormancy for a further seven years.
Unlike the other industries, Sri Lanka's wind energy industry witnessed a sudden boom in 2010, with the commissioning of the
Mampuri Wind Farms
The Mampuri Wind Farms (also known as the Senok Wind Farms, after its developers) are a set of three wind farms located near the Lakvijaya Power Station, on the Kalpitiya peninsula, in Mampuri, Puttalam District, Sri Lanka. The wind farms, refer ...
, the first private-sector wind project in the country's history.
It then suddenly crashed over the following four years after numerous scandals and hidden political dealings surfaced, involving key governing bodies such as the
Sustainable Energy Authority and
Ceylon Electricity Board
The Ceylon Electricity Board - CEB ( si, ලංකා විදුලිබල මණ්ඩලය - ලංවිම, Lankā Vidulibala Mandalaya - Lanwima; ta, இலங்கை மின்சார சபை - இமிச), is the largest el ...
, along with a number of senior individuals.
The last privately owned
first-come, first-served
Queueing theory is the mathematical study of waiting lines, or queues. A queueing model is constructed so that queue lengths and waiting time can be predicted. Queueing theory is generally considered a branch of operations research because the ...
style wind farm projects, the
Pollupalai and Vallimunai Wind Farms
The Pollupalai and Vallimunai Wind Farms are two wind farms built together by Joule Power and Beta Power, on the north-eastern shore of the Jaffna Lagoon, in Pachchilaipalli, Sri Lanka. Both wind farms are owned by the parent company WindForce, ...
, were completed in late 2014, by when the construction of new privately owned wind farms were suspended until further notice by presidential order.
The largest private-sector beneficiaries of the "wind power boom" are
WindForce
WindForce PLC is the largest renewable energy private sector company in Sri Lanka. The company was incorporated in 2010 and in 2021 was listed on the Colombo Stock Exchange. The company commission, construct and operate power plants and generat ...
and Senok, which currently own seven and three separate wind farms respectively, of the total of 14 privately owned wind farms in operation as at 2015.
The other companies in the market include the semi-private LTL Holdings, Aitken Spence, and Willwind, which are currently operating four wind farms in total.
File:AitkenSpenceWindPower-Ambewela-September2012-1.jpg, alt=Aerial view of the Ambewela Aitken Spence Wind Farm, as seen from approximately 10 km away from Horton Plains National Park., Turbines
A turbine ( or ) (from the Greek , ''tyrbē'', or Latin ''turbo'', meaning vortex) is a rotary mechanical device that extracts energy from a fluid flow and converts it into useful Work (physics), work. The work produced by a turbine can be used ...
of the Ambewela Aitken Spence Wind Farm
The Ambewela Aitken Spence Wind Farm is a small wind farm in Ambewela, owned and operated by Ace Wind Power, a subsidiary of Aitken Spence. As of October 2012, it is one of the only few operating multi-megawatt wind farms in Sri Lanka. The wind fa ...
as seen from approximately 10 km away from Horton Plains National Park
Horton Plains National Park ( si, හෝර්ටන් තැන්න ජාතික උද්යානය, Hortan Thanna Jathika Udyanaya) is a national park in the central highlands of Sri Lanka that was designated in 1988. It is locate ...
.
File:Lakvijaya-December2012-3.JPG, alt=Wind turbines of the Mampuri and Madurankuliya wind farms next to the Lakvijaya Power Station, as seen from the Puttalam Lagoon., Wind turbine
A wind turbine is a device that converts the kinetic energy of wind into electrical energy. Hundreds of thousands of large turbines, in installations known as wind farms, now generate over 650 gigawatts of power, with 60 GW added each yea ...
s of the Mampuri Mampuri ( ta, மாம்புரி) is a small village situated within the Puttalam peninsula in the Puttalam District in Sri Lanka. It has transformed since the 1990s from a largely farming and seasonal fishing settlement into a fishing domi ...
and Madurankuliya wind farms. The large building on the right is the 900 MW Lakvijaya Power Station
The Lakvijaya Power Station ( si, ලක් විජය බලාගාරය, translit=Lak Vijaya Balāgāraya) (also known as the Norochcholai Power Station ( si, නොරොච්චෝලෙ ගල් අඟුරු බලාගාරය, t ...
.
File:UppudaluwaWindFarm-SriLanka-02.JPG, alt=Close-up view of the turbines at Uppudaluwa Wind Farm., Close-up view of the turbines at Uppudaluwa Wind Farm, in 2014.
See also
*
Electricity sector in Sri Lanka
The electricity sector in Sri Lanka has a national grid which is primarily powered by hydroelectric power and thermal power, with sources such as photovoltaics and wind power in early stages of deployment. Although potential sites are being ide ...
*
India–Sri Lanka HVDC Interconnection
References
External links
Ceylon Electricity BoardMinistry of Power & Renewable EnergyMahaweli Hydropower ComplexPublic Utilities Commission of Sri LankaSri Lanka Sustainable Energy Authority
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Power stations
A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electrical grid.
Many po ...
Power stations
A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electrical grid.
Many po ...
Sri Lanka