Paving the way towards an Energy Secure Sri Lanka

The Sri Lanka Sustainable Energy Authority (SLSEA)  warmly welcomes Prof. T.M.J.W. Bandara as its new Chairman, marking him as the 8^th leader of the SLSEA. A renowned figure in the energy conversion research field, Prof. Bandara holds an MPhil from the University of Ruhuna and a PhD from the University of Peradeniya and the Chalmers University of Technology Sweden, both in the field of solar energy. He assumed his role on November 4, 2024, welcomed by Director General Eng. J.M. Athula and officials from the Ministry of Power & Energy. Prof. Bandara’s commitment to sustainable energy, research, and education is highly regarded, and we extend our best wishes for his success in this pivotal role.

Prof. T.M.W.J. Bandara is a distinguished figure in sustainable and renewable energy, recognized for his contributions to both theoretical and applied sciences. With over 70 international journal articles, numerous conference presentations, and multiple book chapters, his work has positioned Sri Lanka in the global scientific community. He has received several prestigious awards, including nine Presidential Awards for Scientific Research Publications (2001, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2019), and NRC Research Awards (2011, 2017 and 2018), along with Excellence in Research and Teaching Awards from the University of Peradeniya. Prof. Bandara leads key initiatives as the Director of the Solar Energy Research Center and Chairperson of the Faculty Research Committee at the University of Peradeniya. He also teaches annually as a visiting researcher at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden, fostering international collaboration. As a Tier 4-star researcher, the highest designation by the UGC in Sri Lanka, Prof. Bandara continues to advance the field of sustainable energy, both locally and globally.

With his appointment as the Chairman of the SLSEA, Prof. T.M.W.J. Bandara is committed to achieving national energy goals by promoting renewable resources, energy efficiency, and reducing the country’s carbon footprint. He will lead initiatives to integrate sustainable practices across various sectors, ensuring that clean energy is accessible and economically viable for all Sri Lankans.

Prior to this role, Prof. Bandara was a respected professor in the Department of Physics at the University of Peradeniya, known for his approachable teaching style and his ability to mentor future scientific leaders. His appointment comes at a crucial time as Sri Lanka shifts towards renewable energy solutions, and his leadership will be vital in advancing the Authority's mission to create a resilient energy system that benefits both the environment and society. The SLSEA looks forward to Prof. Bandara's visionary leadership in transforming the energy sector and fostering a sustainable future for all.

Unique Identifiers of Prof T M W J Bandara:

• ORCID ID: 0000-0003-1659-3042
• Researcher ID: F-9209-2015
• Scopus Author Identifier: 22957326300
• Google Scholar: Google Scholar Profile
• ResearchGate: ResearchGate Profile
• Publons: Publons Profile

Index and Ranking:

• AD Scientific Index 2024: T.M.W.J. Bandara, University of Peradeniya. AD Scientific Index Profile
• Energy Engineering: University of Peradeniya Ranking: Number 1
• Energy Engineering: Sri Lanka Country Ranking: Number 2.

Prof. T.M.W.J. Bandara

In a pioneering effort, Sri Lanka Sustainable Energy Authority is currently implementing two floating solar pilot projects, each with a capacity of 1 MW in Kiriibban Wewa in the Monaragala district and Chandrika Wewa in the Rathnapura district.

This project was funded through a generous grant from the government of Korea, this initiative underscores the importance of international partnerships in driving forward sustainable energy solutions. The introduction of floating solar technology is seen as a cost-effective approach to addressing the nation’s growing energy needs.

With limited land availability for traditional solar installations, utilizing water bodies for solar power generation presents a smart and innovative solution. This strategy supports Sri Lanka’s ambitious national goal of generating 70% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030.

In addition to power generation, these projects also serve as hubs for research and development, encouraging collaboration between researchers, academia, and industry stakeholders to advance sustainable technologies for the future.

Together, we are illuminating a path toward a greener, more sustainable Sri Lanka!

Kiriibban wewa

Chandrika wewa

ජුනි මස 26 වැනි දිනට යෙදී ඇති ජාතික බලශක්ති  දිනයට සමාගාමීව කර්මාන්ත අංශයේ බලශක්ති කාර්යක්ෂමව භාවිතය පිළිබද වැඩමුළුවක් 2024 ජුනි මස 26 වැනි දින බියගම ‌‌‌ෆොන්ටේරා බ්‍රෑන්ඩ්ස් ලංකා පුද්ගලික සමාගම්  පරිශ්‍රයේදී පැවැත්විණි.

කර්මාන්ත ‌ක්ෂේත්‍රය බලශක්ති භාවිතය හා යන්ත්‍ර සුත්‍ර භාවිතයේදී ඒ්වා උපරිම කාර්යක්ෂමතාවයෙන් යුතුව පරිහරණය කිරීම මෙන්ම කාර්යක්ෂම විදුලි පහන් භාවිතය හා බලශක්ති සුරක්ෂිත ගොඩනැගිලි නිර්මාණය යනාදි කරුණු පිළිබද දැනුවත් කිරිම සිදු කරන ලද අතර එමඟින් කර්මාන්ත  හිමියන්ට මෙන්ම රටට හිමිවන  ආර්ථික ප්‍රතිලාභ පිළිබදව දැනුවත් කෙරිණී.

ෆොන්ටේරා බ්‍රෑන්ඩ්ස් ලංකා පුද්ගලික සමාගමෙහි ඉංජිනේරුවරුන්  හා තාක්ෂණික අංශයේ නිලධාරීන් සඳහා පැවති මෙම වැඩමුළුවට සම්පත් දායකත්වය ශ්‍රී ලංකා සුනිත්‍ය බලශක්ති අධිකාරියේ ඉංජි.සනත් කිත්සිරි මහතා , අධ්‍යක්ෂ (කර්මාන්ත හා සේවා)  විසින් ලබා දෙන ලදී.

In par with Word Environment Day, SLSEA conducted a beach clean up mission at the stretch of Dickowita beach on 08.06.2024 in collaboration with National Cleaner Production Centre (NCPC) & Center for Beach Clean-ups.

The task team was able to collect 332.02 kg of non-biodegradable debris in the beach in a very short of time span and send it to Kerawalapitya waste to energy power plant. The task team was led by Eng. Harsha Wickramsinghe (Deputy Director General) of SLSEA with the able support of Mr. Lahiru Wijeratne of Center for Beach Clean-ups.

SLSEA, NCPC, Center for Beach Clean-Ups staff & invitees actively participated in the event. The event was sponsored by EB Creasy Solar Co. PLC, Sanasa Life Insurance PLC, Iconn Media (Pvt) Ltd, Siyathra Advertising (Pvt) Ltd, & Indi Creations (Pvt) Ltd.

A pilot project on Disease Resilient and Energy Efficient Centralized Air Conditioning (CAC) Systems was implemented in three government buildings under the technical and financial assistance of Asian Development Bank (ADB). The project implementations were carried out by BreatheEasy Consultants (Pvt) Ltd, India under the supervision of Sri Lanka Sustainable Energy Authority. The key outputs of the project are:

- Increase Efficiency of Air Conditioning Systems

- Adopting climate friendly refrigerants

- Using smart and digitally enhanced controllers to optimize operational efficiency

- Mitigating the risk of virus transmission

- Increase comfort of users and improving health and well-being of occupants

The three AC systems were installed at Postal Headquarters, State Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Corporation and Sri Lanka Standards Institution and the expected annual energy saving of the project is around 40%.

To disseminate the knowledge on novel smart technology and to showcase the newly installed disease resilient, energy efficient, smart and climate friendly air conditioning systems, a regional workshop followed by visits to pilot project sites was conducted by ADB, in collaboration with the Ministry of Power & Energy and Sri Lanka Sustainable Energy Authority. The workshop was conducted on 4^thApril 2024 at the Shangri-La Hotel, in Colombo with the participation of energy sector & healthcare professionals, HVAC designers & manufactures, policy makers, technical experts and government authorities from local and South Asia and Southeast Asia.

ඉන්දීය රජයේ පුර්ණ මූල්‍ය ප්‍රදානයක් ලෙස ලැබෙන ඇමෙරිකානු ඩොලර් මිලියන 10.995 ක මුදලින් යාපනය දූපත් 3ක් වන ඩෙල්ෆ්, එලුවතිව් සහ නයිනතිව් (නාගදීපය) වෙනුවෙන් විදුලිබලය සම්පාදනය කිරීම මෙම දෙමුහුම් බලශක්ති ව්‍යපෘතියෙන් සැපයීමට නියමිතය.

කිලෝ වොට් 530 ක සුළං බලය, කිලෝ වොට් 1700 ක සුර්ය බලය සහ කිලෝ වොට් පැය 2400 ක බැටරි පද්ධතියක් සමග පුනර්ජනනීය බලය සහ විකල්ප කිලෝ වොට් 2500 ක ඩීසල් බලයෙන් ක්‍රියාත්මක වන මෙම දෙමුහුම් පද්ධතිය ඉදිකිරීම් USOLAR සමාගම මගින්ඉදි කරන අතර එම සම්පුර්ණ ව්‍යාපෘතිය  2025 මාර්තු වන විට අවසන් කිරීමට බලාපොරොත්තු වේ.

මේ සදහා ගිවිසුම්ගත වීම ශ්‍රී ලංකාව සහ ඉන්දියාව අතර 2024.03.01 දින කොළොඹ දී විය.මෙම අවස්ථාවට ඉන්දියානු මහා කොමසාරිස් සන්තොස් ජාහා මැතිතුමා, විදුලි බල රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍ය ගරු ඉන්දික අනුරුද්ධ මැතිතුමා සමග විදුලි බල හා බලශක්ති අමත්‍යංශයේ ලේකම් ආචර්ය සුලක්ෂණ ජයවර්ධන, ශ්‍රී ලංකා සුනිත්‍ය බලශක්ති අධිකාරියේ සභාපති ඉංජිනේරු රංජිත් සේපාල, අධ්‍යක්ෂ ජනරාල් ඉන්ජිනේරු ජේ එම් අතුල යන මහත්වරුන්  හා ආරාධිත නිලධාරීන් රැසක්  මේ සදහා සහභාගී විය.

The days are not far away when our agricultural land can deliver electricity while continuing to feed the nation. Imagine a greenhouse structure filled with intense agriculture technology doubling up as a power plant. All these are no longer science fiction.  

Agrivoltaics offers a unique opportunity to address both energy security in a land constrained country like Sri Lanka and its agricultural challenges. This project will serve as a model for wider applications for achieving sustainable food security and energy access in the country. Agrivoltaics is built on the innovative practice of installing solar panels above lands suitable for growing crops. The project's key innovation lies in transparent solar panels, allowing sunlight to reach crops while generating clean energy, maximizing land use efficiency.

Hybrid semi-transparent solar panels installed 2 meters above the tea plantation is projected to generate electricity to power for over 100 families, contributing to the national grid with a 24 kilowatt-hour (kWh) battery energy storage system. The project complements electricity distribution system to the community, LED lighting system lighting over tea plantation, groundwater pump with borehole arrangement to facilitate water supply for both the tea plants at the project area and the nearby estate community.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) together with the Ministry of Power and Energy (MOPE), and Ministry of Plantation Industries (MOPI) inaugurated Sri Lanka's first-ever semitransparent solar PV powered Agrivoltaic pilot project. This marks a significant milestone in the country's clean energy and agricultural landscape. The pilot project of 85 kW_p capacity implemented at the Hanthana Ratnasiri Wickramanayake National Training Centre, utilizes innovative semi-transparent solar panels to generate clean electricity while maximizing land-use efficiency and boosting agricultural productivity.

ADB played a pivotal role in bringing this transformative project to life and actively championed the Agrivoltaics technology in Sri Lanka together with the Sri Lanka Sustainable Energy Authority (SLSEA), Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) and the Tea Smallholders Development Authority (TSHDA), Hayleys Solar renewable energy arm of Hayleys Fentons was the contractor implemented this pioneering project.

The official inauguration on 29^th February 2024 jointly conducted by the ADB and the Government of Sri Lanka, marked the completion of the project and its successful transfer to the Government signifying a continued commitment to supporting Sri Lanka's long-term sustainability goals and creating a brighter future for its communities. The ceremony was graced by representatives of ADB, TSHDA, Hayleys Fentons, Ministry of Power & Energy, CEB, SLSEA and other distinguished guests.

Sri Lanka Sustainable Energy Authority (SLSEA) launched a voluntary energy labelling programme for LED modules, (LED Panel lights).  The event took place  on 29 August 2023 at the Auditorium of the Sri Lanka Standards Institution and it provided an opportunity for suppliers to learn about the voluntary labelling programme for LED modules, how to comply with the technical standards and the implementation procedure of the labelling programme. The energy labelling standards for LED modules have already been published as SLS 1740:2022. The standards specify the energy performance test methods, star rating criteria for LED modules, as well as the information that must be included on the energy label.

Local manufacturers, importers, LED module suppliers, officers from government institutions, and the Technical Committee members for preparation of the standards attended to this event. The voluntary energy labelling programme for LED modules brings a step towards promoting the use of energy-efficient LED modules in Sri Lanka. The programme will help consumers to make informed choices about the energy efficient LED modules during purchasing the lamps, and it will encourage suppliers to offer more energy-efficient products for sale.

The SLSEA is committed to promote energy efficient appliances in Sri Lanka. The voluntary LED module energy labelling programme is one of the many initiatives that the SLSEA is undertaking to achieve this goal.

Benefits of Energy Labelling Programme

There are a number of benefits of energy labelling programmes, including:

• - It helps consumers to make informed choices on the energy efficient products.
• - It encourages manufacturers to produce more energy-efficient products.
• - It helps reducing household electricity consumption and thus household electricity bills.
• - It helps the product market move towards energy efficiency.
• - It helps reducing energy demand and thus reducing greenhouse gas emissions. 

How to get the Energy Label for LED Lamps

To display the energy label, the products (LED modules) shall comply with the SLS 1740:2022. If the product complies with the requirements given in the standard and it’s energy performance is higher than the specified minimum level in the standard, star rating (from one star to five stars) is assigned to the particular model of the lamp. Then the supplier can fix the energy label with the particular star rating on the product. The number of stars appearing on the curved band depicts the energy rating determined for the particular model as in the standard. More stars earned by a module means higher energy-efficiency.  If the product does not meet at least the minimum energy performance level, no stars will be assigned to that product.  When the labelling scheme becomes mandatory, such products will be prohibited entering the market. It is expected to make the energy label for LED modules mandatory by the year 2024 by imposing regulations.

The energy label must be attached to the LED module and its packaging. The label must include the following information:

• - Number of stars permitted for the model
• - Rated power of the LED module in Watt
• - Energy consumption per month considering 4 hours of operation per day
• - Brand name and model number of the LED module shall be printed in the space provided
• - Average of the measured light output of LED modules in the sample, in lumen
• - Average of the measured power use of LED modules in the sample, in Watt
• - QR code

Voluntary labelling programme launching event

Hiruras Power Company affiliated to Windforce launched a 15MW wind power project in Mannar on 06^th August 2023.  The project connected to the national grid comprise of 6 wind turbines. The construction work was attended by local engineers and labourers and commissioned before the scheduled project completion date.

The opening ceremony was graced by Hon. Kanchana Wijesekera, Minister of Power & Energy, Hon. Indika Anuruddha, State Minister of Power, Eng. Ranjith Sepala, Chairman of Sri Lanka Sustainable Energy Authority, Hiruras Power Co. top officials and other distinguished guests.

A guest lecture was delivered by Eng. Harsha Wickramasinghe (Deputy Director General-DSM) of SLSEA on ‘Empowering Consumers Through Clean Energy Transition’ at CAA on 15^th March 2023 at Metropolitan University Auditorium.

It was conducted in par with the commemoration of World Consumer Rights Day by Consumer Affairs Authority in Colombo.

 Minister of Trade, Commerce and Food Security Hon. Nalin Fernando and other distinguish guests graced the event.

The Sri Lanka Sustainable Energy Authority (SLSEA) launched a pilot refrigerator replacement project at BMICH on 17th February 2023 to encourage refrigerator suppliers to join the voluntary energy labeling programme and educate the public on the Minimum Energy Performance (MEP) Label. The MEP label was introduced to 15 models of refrigerators offered by three major appliance vendors, allowing the customers to choose an efficient model for their next purchase. Chairman and Director General (DG) of SLSEA, Chairman of Lanka Electricity Company, DG of Sri Lanka Standard Institution and DG of National Engineering Research and Development Center attended this event.

The pilot project aims to replace 1,000 old household inefficient refrigerators with new MEP labelled and energy-efficient refrigerators in the Western Province, with an estimated saving of 480,000 kWh of electricity per year. This translates to an approximately 30% reduction in the electricity bill of a typical participating household. The pilot project will be used to measure and document the actual savings and test an elaborate network of disposal for discarded refrigerators and related hazardous materials. The pilot project is expected to be expanded to cover the whole country, removing 500,000 old inefficient units within five years, with an estimated saving of 500GWh of electricity (approximately 3% of the national electricity use).