Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

'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 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 ...

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 A fossil fuel is a hydrocarbon-containing material formed naturally in the Earth's crust from the remains of dead plants and animals that is extracted and burned as a fuel. The main fossil fuels are coal, oil, and natural gas. Fossil fuels ma ...

–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 Renewable energy is energy that is collected from renewable resources that are naturally replenished on a human timescale. It includes sources such as sunlight, wind, the movement of water, and geothermal heat. Although most 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 Fuel oil is any of various fractions obtained from the distillation of petroleum (crude oil). Such oils include distillates (the lighter fractions) and residues (the heavier fractions). Fuel oils include heavy fuel oil, marine fuel oil (MFO), b ...

), 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 ...

biomass Biomass is plant-based material used as a fuel for heat or electricity production. It can be in the form of wood, wood residues, energy crops, agricultural residues, and waste from industry, farms, and households. Some people use the terms bio ...

, 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

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

, 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

s of privately owned

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 b ...

after 2030. The 500 MW Sampur Power Station was in early stages of development since 2006, but was subsequently cancelled in 2016 due environmental concerns. Prior to its cancellation, the

Ministry of Power and Renewable Energy The Ministry of Power and Energy ( si, විදුලිබල හා බලශක්ති අමාත්‍යාංශය; ta, மின்சக்தி மற்றும் வலுசக்தி அமைச்சு) is a cabinet mi ...

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 carbon d ...

–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 mem ...

, 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 Photovoltaics (PV) is the conversion of light into electricity using semiconducting materials that exhibit the photovoltaic effect, a phenomenon studied in physics, photochemistry, and electrochemistry. The photovoltaic effect is commercially ...

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, refe ...

, 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

, 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, 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 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 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 year. ...

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.

References

External links

Ceylon Electricity Board

Ministry of Power & Renewable Energy

Mahaweli Hydropower Complex

Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka

Sri 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 ...