Sri Lanka’s Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa has accused the government of pursuing policies that threaten renewable energy projects, arguing that rooftop solar power could add 2,500 megawatts to the national grid and save the country Rs. 25 billion a month.
Mr Premadasa made the allegations during a meeting with Martha Tesfaye Woldemμchael, the International Monetary Fund’s resident representative in Sri Lanka. He said he had briefed her on what he described as government policies that were damaging renewable and solar energy projects and pushing the sector towards destruction.
According to Mr Premadasa, solar power was reducing the cost of electricity for consumers while creating opportunities for young, professionally skilled entrepreneurs. He also said the democratisation of renewable energy had strengthened small-scale businesses, but claimed the government was attempting to dismantle the programme that supported such enterprises.
He urged the IMF representative to make the government aware of the need to protect solar power and establish battery storage systems. Mr Premadasa said rooftop solar installations were already contributing 2,500 megawatts to the national grid and claimed this was saving the country Rs. 25 billion each month.
He contrasted those benefits with what he described as efforts by a “diesel mafia” to expand diesel-based electricity generation. “Despite such a beneficial situation for the country, the diesel mafia is making a major effort to promote the diesel mafia,” he said, according to the statement.
Mr Premadasa also criticised proposed approaches to electricity generation involving Yugadanavi, Sobadhanavi and Sohasdanavi. He said electricity generation through a combination of liquefied natural gas and diesel should not be pursued in a manner that, in his view, advanced the interests of the fuel and diesel industries.
He said the government was attempting to implement what he described as an agenda of the fuel and diesel mafia through the combined-cycle power plant concept without LNG. The Opposition Leader said he would not allow such a policy “for the 22 million people” of Sri Lanka.
Mr Premadasa further called for a renewable energy target beyond the 70 per cent level, saying Sri Lanka should pursue 100 per cent renewable energy instead. He said he would undertake the highest level of democratic struggle possible to press the government towards that objective.
The meeting with the IMF representative centred on the Opposition Leader’s presentation of the government’s energy policies and his concerns over the direction of Sri Lanka’s renewable energy sector. His statements were presented as criticisms of government policy and claims about the interests behind proposed electricity-generation arrangements.
