COLOMBO: Sri Lanka requires over US$ 14.5 billion to implement the least cost long term power generation plan for the next 20 years, the electricity sector regulator, Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL) said in a statement. The state power supplier, Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) has prepared a Least Cost Long Term Generation Expansion Plan (LCLTGEP) 2018-2037 projecting the growth of energy demand for the next 20 years. The PUCSL recently opened the path for public to comment on the LCLTGEP. The LCLTGEP, has been compiled based on the results of the latest electricity expansion planning studies conducted by the CEB for the planning period of 2018-2037 and aims to cater the forecasted demand growth by identifying the least cost plant addition sequence based on the most sustainable technology to avoid electricity shortfalls in the country. According to the LCLTGEP, the generation demand is expected to grow 5.9 percent per year from 2018 -2022 while in addition the peak demand is expected to grow at 5.1 percent per year. The same is expected to grow 4.9 percent per annum from 2018-2037 which the peak demand is expected to cross at 4.5 percent. The current Sri Lankan power system had a total installed capacity of approximately 4018 MW by the end of the year 2016 with a total dispatchable capacity of 3538 MW, including non-dispatchable plants of capacity 516 MW owned by private sector developers.
Sri Lanka recorded 2453MW of maximum demand in 2016 and generated a total of 14250GWh of electricity in the same year. According to the expected growth, it is identified that the grid should have an installed capacity of 4269 MW in the beginning of 2018 and 10783 MW by the end of 2037. The proposed energy mix for the next twenty years consist, major hydro, coal, pumped storage hydro, combined cycle, oil and gas turbine plants. According to the plan, least cost has been a major concern while environmentally friendliness has been an added value in identifying the technology options for the generation mix of the next 20 years. The CEB plans to add 15MW of mini hydro power, 160MW of solar power, 5MW of biomass, 320MW of oil based power to the national grid in the year 2018. From 2018- 2037, Sri Lanka plans to add 842MW of Major Hydro, 215MW of Mini Hydro, 1389MW of Solar, 1205MW of Wind,85MW of Bio Mass, 425MW of oil Based Power, 1500MW of Natural Gas, 2700MW of Coal power into the electricity generation system. In total the Indian Ocean Island plans on 8361MW of new additions (including the committed power plants) to the national grid in the period of 20 years from 2018. “The total investment required for implementing the 2018-2037 plan in the next 20 years is approximately USD 14.568 Billion (LKR 2,168.93 billion),” the PUCSL said.
