Drought-hit Sri Lanka looks from hydro to wind power
Date: 16-Aug-02
Country: SRI LANKA
Author: Lindsay Beck
Water shortages throughout the country depleted hydropower reservoirs and left the country without power for five hours a day earlier this year.
"Our only resource is water. In other words hydro. But our hydro reserves have all been used," said Ministry of Power and Energy spokesman Ananda Dharmapriya this week.
But in southern Hambantota District, which has been without rain for the last three years, a pilot wind power project is underway, and the electricity board is scouting six more sites for new wind projects.
The dozen-odd windmills that dot the landscape in a region otherwise marked by farmland lying fallow because of drought produce only three megawatts of power - a drop in the bucket for the country which uses 1,400 megawatts at peak hours.
But local authorities hope the project could be just the beginning.
"It's an ideal location. There's a lot of scrub and brush in the area and a lot of land that can't be cultivated because it's too dry," said Ananda Amaratunga, Hambantota's top government official.
Amaratunga says an Indian power company has been looking at a site in the region, but has made no commitments.
The ministry's Dharmapriya says energy demand is growing by about 9-10 percent annually, a growth rate which will require it to double capacity within seven years.
He estimates hydro capacity could grow by about another 500 megawatts, to 1,635 megawatts, but says the country will need a capacity of at least 2,800 megawatts and must look to coal, diesel and wind to make up the shortfall.
Already the government is facing an additional energy bill as high as $400 million, which it can ill afford as it struggles to rebuild an economy shackled by nearly two decades of conflict.
Sri Lanka is hoping it can turn a six-month truce between the government and Tamil Tiger rebels into lasting peace, and face-to-face talks are expected to happen in Thailand later in the year.