- Discussions include ways to avoid the risk factors and uncertainties related to the competitive process
Following the roundtable discussions held between the Government and international institutions such as the World Bank (WB), the Power and Energy Ministry is seeking international community support to avoid uncertainties related to the competitive process and the renewable energy (RE) sector, The Daily Morning learned.
Last week, the Power and Energy Ministry organised a high-level roundtable discussion with the WB on advancing energy transitions in the country. The discussion was attended by President Ranil Wickremesinghe and some senior officials of the WB, Asian Development Bank, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), USAID, International Finance Corporation (IFC), Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), and several other institutions working on renewable energy.
Speaking to The Daily Morning yesterday (2), Secretary to the Power and Energy Ministry, Dr. Sulakshana Jayawardana, said that the discussion was mainly focused on developing the country’s renewable energy sector while avoiding the risk factors and uncertainties related to the competitive process. He also stated that the international stakeholders presented their insights on the risk allocation in deciding the electricity tariff and how they could contribute to the energy infrastructure development of the country.
Dr. Jayawardana further noted that the international community, together with the domestic authorities, discuss how to develop renewable energy projects with their technical and financial assistance due to the current high cost and interest rates in the country. He said that the Power and Energy Ministry is working to make the maximum use of these discussions to develop the country’s energy sector to supply power to the people at a lower cost.
Meanwhile, Minister of Power and Energy Kanchana Wijesekara, in an ‘X' message, made “presentations on how Sri Lanka can adopt financial tools for cost reduction, mitigate the risk of developers, structure new projects for competitive bidding, and secure technical assistance for evaluation.”
In the said discussion, President Ranil Wickremesinghe had emphasised the need for a comprehensive plan to exploit renewable energy and explore future trends in green hydrogen in Sri Lanka. President Wickremesinghe highlighted a recent report by PricewaterhouseCoopers on green hydrogen, noting its importance and the necessity for detailed planning to leverage this emerging sector.