A few years ago, Sri Lanka set an ambitious target of reaching 70% of her energy needs through renewable energy by 2030. While the policy declaration by the President Gotabaya Rajapaksa drew much attention from foreign leaders, industry giants, scientists, and environmentalists, the enthusiasm of the Government’s power generation mechanism towards the set goal was lukewarm. There is little doubt that the energy ‘establishment’ has resisted the push to bring onboard more renewable energy into the energy mix that fuels and powers the island nation. Some, including two former ministers of power and energy, have gone as far as to alleged attempts and acts of ‘sabotage’ by the energy bureaucracy of Sri Lanka to kill renewable energy plans in the crib. Today, some observers and energy experts continue to question the ‘establishments’ negative approach to renewables, pointing out the regime change has done little to address an ‘energy mafia’ which plagues the nation.  

Over the last few decades Sri Lankans have endured much due to inefficient planning and management of the national power supply. A spate of power failures in 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023 had shone a spotlight on the long-term issue of electricity supply. Today, amidst a global drive to move towards renewable energy, faced with an economic and financial crisis at home, Sri Lanka’s prospects of going green for energy seem to remain bogged down by bureaucratic bottlenecks, competing interests, policy changes, and the lack of a transparent and level playing field. As a result, Sri Lankan consumers are denied a reliable, greener, and affordable power supply. 

Some observers have raised the question as to if Sri Lanka at policy formulation and enforcement is suffering from a lack of will and skills to do the needful to effectively evolve the island’s energy mix. Adding to the challenge, the recent measures taken to restructure and reform the State-owned Enterprises (SOEs) including the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) and the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) by the previous government seem to have stopped in its tracks, since the new NPP Government took office. The future of the reforms, which were jointly developed with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), seem to be uncertain today.    

Commenting on the current conundrum in the energy security of Sri Lanka, which now seems to have slipped back into the hands of the ‘fossil fuel’ influence group, an energy expert told The Daily Morning that to ensure energy purchases fall in line with national interest and to get the customer a best price, reforms should continue, and that a new agency for procurement of energy should be formed. “Sri Lanka needs a dedicated energy procurement agency. India did this by creating a new entity called the Solar Energy Corporation of India, which was staffed by experienced professionals, including procurement specialists,” the expert said. According to him, it is prudent to negotiate long-term tenders in a transparent and competitive manner with safeguards put in place to address maintenance, emergency situations, and anticipated global disruptions.

Sri Lanka needs to maximise the use of indigenous renewable energy sources in order to improve energy security and ensure the customers get the best deal on energy bills. Such an approach would see domestic power users burdened less by a power tariff which is not significantly tied to fossil fuel market fluctuations or exchange rate risks and allow Sri Lanka to exert better control over her power sector. Such an advantage may allow local industry and the export sector to get the most competitive pricing on power tariff and be less prone to international disruptions, which will help them remain competitive. In order to ensure Sri Lanka’s energy security is met and the best tariff is offered to customers, when Sri Lanka enters into large-scale power projects with international bidders, it needs to have a well-formulated energy security framework to follow and it must utilise the right expertise in properly structuring tenders by employing suitable specialists with experience in such projects. 

With the ever present risk of more global supply chain disruptions, which Sri Lanka would find challenging to weather, especially if global oil production drops, and or if global oil prices rise, is a vulnerability Sri Lanka needs to address quickly. Better and wider integration of renewable power and power storage systems would be one of the best ways to ensure Sri Lanka’s economic revival is not scuttled by such shocks. 

However, the situation is compounded today, with the wind taken out of the ‘reforms and restructure’ sails in the energy sector. Let us hope that Sri Lanka will not face new disruptions and that our region remains peaceful, as if the situation changes, the island nation's fragile energy security balance could be shattered easily.