Another ruse?

Monday 30th May, 2022

There seems to be no end to ominous warnings in these troubled times. The government has warned that electricity tariffs may increase 300% for industrial consumers, who are struggling to stay afloat. It is also feared that electricity tariffs will double for average users. If electricity prices increase, water tariffs will also go up besides a huge increase in the overall cost of production, and inflation. The export sector will also be badly affected, and some foreign investors might be compelled to shift their factories to other countries, thus aggravating Sri Lanka’s forex woes further.

What has befallen the power sector is similar to the fate of the agricultural sector. A threat of a food crisis is looming large thanks to the government’s disastrous experiment with green agriculture. What should have been done over a period of time cautiously was accelerated with an ill-conceived blanket ban on agrochemicals; the national agricultural production declined sharply as a result, causing a food scarcity. Renewable energy is doubtlessly the way forward for the entire world, and should be promoted as a national priority here, but the country’s transition to green energy should be gradual, and generation plans aimed at meeting the increasing demand for power should not have been compromised. It is only natural that the incumbent administration and its predecessor have come under heavy fire for blocking the expansion of the Norochcholai power plant, and scrapping the proposed Sampur coal-fired power project, respectively. Coal is bad, as is public knowledge, but what would have been the situation if the Norochcholai power plant had not been built?

The government has reportedly decided to launch a rapid renewable energy generation programme shortly as a solution to the power crisis. Minister of Power and Energy Kanchana Wijesekera has revealed how the government proposes to set about the task. He has stressed the need for installing rooftop solar panels at factories, state institutions including hospitals, hotels, etc. These institutions can invest the amounts they pay for electricity at present in solar projects, the minister has said, promising that provisional approval will be granted immediately for such projects and reasonable rates offered for solar power. But the question is whether the government’s rapid solar power programme will help mitigate the crippling effects of a massive electricity tariff increase in the short run. It will be well-nigh impossible to launch solar power projects soon, given the worsening dollar crisis, which has stood in the way of imports. Minister Wijesekera cannot be unaware of these difficulties. Is he trying to absolve himself of the blame for the ill-effects of the huge electricity tariff hike in the pipeline by setting an unattainable solar power target for consumers by way of an alternative so that he could blame the latter for not generating solar power to keep their electricity bills low? He seems to have told electricity consumers that they must produce enough solar power, or shut up and pay more for electricity.

Grand plans to step up power generation from renewable sources have been launched in the past. One may recall that the yahapalana government (2015-2019) set an ambitious goal of ensuring that renewables would account for 30% of the country’s electricity generation by 2020. The then Minister of Power and Renewable Energy Ranjith Siyambalapitiya made a public statement to that effect, following the launch of Sooryabala Sangramaya. But the country remains heavily dependent on thermal power generation, and the current Minister of Power and Energy says it will cost as much as USD 100 million a month to ensure an uninterrupted power supply!

Before urging the public to invest in solar power projects, Minister Wijesekera should ask the CEB whether it is equipped to accommodate an increase in the supply of solar power. There have been many complaints that the existing solar power producers are not paid. Secretary of the Wind Power Developers Association, Manjula Perera, complained at a media briefing in Colombo in January 2022 that the renewable energy sector was affected by inordinate delays in the approval process, which could take years to complete, and renewable energy developers also faced issues as regards grid connections. Shouldn’t Minister Wijesekera ensure that the CEB gets its act together before launching ambitious projects?