Twenty five years of energy management in Sri Lanka
By Dr. Tilak Siyambalapitiya, Sri Lanka Energy Managers Association
The second oil crisis of 1979 had just ended when the Government of Sri Lanka decided in 1982 to place energy efficiency and demand management as the top priority, with the energy ministry functioning directly under the President. By 1983, burdened with a severe drought requiring more thermal power generation as well, Sri Lanka spent 45% of her export earnings to buy oil, and the situation was getting worse. Thanks to the Mahaweli power plants, moderate weather, moderate oil prices and fast growth of the economy, Sri Lanka never had to spend such a large share of her income to buy oil. The more recent peak was in 2008, when the country spent about 35% of the export income on oil.
There has always been a clear need to improve energy efficiency, manage the demand, and in general, “do with a lower amount of electricity and oil”. Energy use in households is in the form of biomass (firewood) or LPG for cooking, and kerosene or electricity for lighting. The efficiency of using the traditional three-brick open hearth is only 10%. This means, 90% of energy in a stick of firewood is lost, when burnt in the open. A semi-enclosed clay stove would increase this efficiency to 25%, thus reducing the firewood use in the household to 40%. The efficiency can be further improved if the clay stove is permanently fixed at the fireplace, with additional clay around the stove to contain the heat. More recent improvements include the stove for household use developed by the National Engineering Research and Development Centre (NERD), which uses wood chips and has the best ever efficiency. The government promoted the enclosed stoves in the 1980s by providing stoves at a subsidised price, and at the peak of the program, had provided 10% of the households with an efficient stove. Many others including the Intermediate Technology Development Group and the Sarvodaya Movement joined the effort.
Energy use in lighting required a different approach. By year 1985, only 18% of households had electricity, and now by 2009, the connected households exceed 82%, while the government is working on a target of 95% to be reached within the next few years. The target appears to be well within reach, provided adequate funds are made available because when the network goes further and further deep into thinly populated areas, the cost of the network per household keeps increasing. Lighting in households, especially the newly connected ones and those in the low and middle income groups is with the conventional incandescent lamps, which converts only 5% of electricity to light and the balance is wasted as heat. A campaign to popularise compact fluorescent lamps was spearheaded by Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) and Lanka Electricity Company (LECO) in the mid-1990s. Although the incentive program has now come to an end by, CFLs are so popular and widely used, but much needs to be done to improve and standardise the quality of CFLs entering market.
