Ceylon Electricity Board

COMPANY PROFILE

2015

CEYLON ELECTRICITY BOARD

+94 (0) 112 324 471 | www.ceb.lk

Charging ahead with energy solutions Editorial: Abigail Saltmarsh

The largest electricity supplier in Sri Lanka, Ceylon has announced its intention to increase renewable energy capacity and new measures to encourage the use of electric cars - “We have a positive approach to green energy like wind, hydro, solar and biomass and there is a lot of encouragement from the government here to go for greener and cleaner energy.�

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CEYLON ELECTRICITY BOARD

© Ceylon Electricity Board

The Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) has long had a policy of developing environmentally compatible and energy efficient solutions. Now its pursuit of

for 2015 to 2034, announcing ambitious targets for significantly increasing renewable energy capacity.

The utility has also been given

on the country’s road will be eased and emissions greatly reduced.

General Manager, Chandrasiri Wickramasekara, says the utility is constantly striving to improve

minimising environmental impact and contributing to sustainable development has taken several more very decisive steps forward.

The electricity supplier has recently published its Longterm Generation Expansion Plan

the green light by Sri Lanka’s energy regulator for a new “Time of Use” (TOU) tariff, which aims to encourage consumers to use electricity during off-peak times to charge electric vehicles. The hope, therefore, is that traffic congestion

its green credentials through innovative solutions and new approaches. Now these latest announcements will only serve to set it ever more firmly on its course towards achieving sustainability and encouraging customers to

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subsidiary company, overseeing it in certain urban areas.

BUILDING A FUTURE Although Sri Lanka relies mostly on oil, hydro power and increasingly, coal, generation to meet the country’s electricity demand, it has looked to the possibility of introducing far more renewable energy sources through a recently published Long-term Generation Expansion Plan.

ard y Bo © Ceylon Electricit

conserve energy.

“We have a positive approach to green energy like wind, hydro, solar and biomass and there is a lot of encouragement from the government here to go for greener and cleaner energy,” he says.

A STATUTORY OBLIGATION The CEB was established in 1969, with the aim of controlling, generating, transmitting, distributing and selling electricity throughout Sri Lanka. It has a market share of 100%.

From its foundation, it has had a statutory obligation to develop and maintain an efficient, coordinated and economical system of electricity supply for the whole of Sri Lanka. It is required to generate or acquire sufficient amount of electricity to satisfy demand and to plan its development activities in order to provide reliable, quality electricity to the entire nation at affordable prices.

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The utility initially started developing its grid with hydro power but then began to establish small thermal plants. By the 1980s, it was developing and operating heavy power plates. Today CEB is also involved in a joint venture with India’s National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), the Trincomalee Coal Power Project, which has a plant at Sampoor, and sees a total of 900MW coming from coal.

It was in 1990s that CEB began contracting and buying power from independent producers; some of this power was coming from oil plants and some from hydro.

Today more than 200 hydro power plants are connected to CEB’s grid and close to 1,000MW are created by these independent producers, giving the utility a total storage capacity of 4,000MW and a transmission voltage of 132 to 220Kv across the whole island, according to Mr Wickramasekara.

Much of the distribution is owned and operated by CEB, with Lanka Electricity, a private,

“Sri Lanka is blessed with the renewable energy sources, which can be utilised to fulfil energy requirements of the country”

This report presents the generation expansion planning studies carried out by the Transmission and Generation Planning Branch of the Ceylon Electricity Board for the period 2015 to 2034. It includes information on the existing generation system, generation planning methodology, system demand forecast and investment and implementation plans for proposed projects.

It also looks at whether Sri Lanka can realistically expect to reach a target of 20% renewable energy contribution by the year 2020.

CEYLON ELECTRICITY BOARD At the end of 2014, Sri Lanka’s installed power generation capacity was 3.9 GW, of which 442 MW was based on renewable energy capacity, dominated by mini-hydro power technology.

Renewable energy capacity had a share of over 11% in installed capacity as well as generation.

The CEB believes it can increase the renewable energy capacity to 972 MW by 2020, which would contribute 20% to the total power generation in the country.

Renewable energy’s share in power generation is expected to peak in 2025 at 21.4% with an installed capacity of 1,367 MW.

GREAT POTENTIAL To achieve the demanding targets, the country is driving hard to step up in its renewable energy

development plans on all fronts.

But, as the CEB points out: “Sri Lanka is blessed with the renewable energy sources, which can be utilised to fulfil energy requirements of the country.

Ceylon Electricity Board as a power utility of the country has promoted generation of electricity using renewable energy resources since early 90s by giving the required assistance to the private sector, which includes training and capacity building, prefeasibility studies and resource assessments.”

The government has identified the development of renewable energy projects as a matter of policy and aims to diversify the electricity sector from high cost thermal power generation, reduce generation from fossil

fuels and to focus more on solar, wind and biomass sources.

Even more significant investment opportunities are expected to be created within renewable energy as part of the drive. Sri Lanka already has a very generous feed in tariff rates for grid connected renewable energy projects.

Wind is considered to be one of the most promising of Sri Lanka’s renewable energy sources. Sri Lanka’s wind climate is primarily determined by the two Asian monsoons: the South West and North East. The South West monsoon lasts from May till early October while the North East monsoon lasts from December to February.

The South West is the stronger of the two and is felt along the entire west coast of Sri Lanka, as

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Š Ceylon Electricity Board

well as in interior areas and some mountainous regions. Winds over flat landscapes in the southeastern and north-western coastal belt are more consistent and occur during both monsoons. But overall it is believed the country does exhibit very favourable conditions for harnessing wind energy for large-scale electricity generation.

TREMENDOUS POTENTIAL The geo-climatic settings in Sri Lanka are also particularly conducive to harnessing hydro resources. The two monsoons are responsible for distinct seasonal rains, which combined with the humid conditions and the hilly terrain, the highlands of Sri Lanka offer excellent opportunities to harness hydropower to generate electricity.

The development of the small hydro power sector in Sri Lanka is

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widely considered to be a success story. The small hydro industry is typically characterised by hydro power projects with capacities less than 10MW. The economically feasible small hydro potential in Sri Lanka is estimated to be 400 MW. When it comes to solar, Sri Lanka is situated close to the equator and therefore receives an abundant supply of solar radiation year round. Solar radiation over the island does not show a marked seasonal variation, and a substantial potential exists in the dry zone of the country for harnessing solar energy.

Biomass is the most common source of energy supply in the country, with the majority of usage coming from the domestic sector for cooking purposes. Due to the abundant availability, only a limited portion of the total biomass usage is channelled through a market,

with the most common forms being fuel wood, municipal waste, industrial waste and agricultural waste. Again, the potential here is believed to be tremendous.

A NEW TOU TARIFF As the CEB moves forward in its goal for more renewable energy and a higher level of sustainability, the aim is to have a multifaceted approach. This includes encouraging customers to make their own choices to benefit the environment of the country as a whole.

In order to encourage the use of electric vehicles, for example, the utility has just announced the approval by the Public Utilities commission of a new optional TOU tariff for any domestic consumer with a three phase 30A or above supply.

This is now being implemented

CEYLON ELECTRICITY BOARD within the country and any domestic consumer interested in it can request it from their service provider (either the CEB or the Lanka Electricity Company). The TOU tariff has been established with the multiple purpose of benefitting domestic users, reducing power usage during peak times and promoting power usage during off peak times.

In particular, the hope is that it will encourage the use of electricity during off peak times for charging electric vehicles in a bid to reduce congestion and emissions on Sri Lanka’s roads.

The annual estimated loss due to traffic congestion in Sri Lankan roads is around 40 billion rupees per year.

The new tariff sees individual consumptions during three time blocks separately metered and charged. There are “Off Peak” (10.30pm to 5.30am of the following day), “Day” (5.30am to 6.30pm) and “Peak” (6.30pm to 10.30pm) blocks.

“Unlike the prevailing block tariff structures for domestic consumers, under this new TOU tariff, there is only a single tariff within each time block,” the

CEB points out. “And in order to facilitate Electric Vehicle Charging, a low off peak tariff of 13 rupees per unit (kWh) has been offered for seven hours starting from 10.30pm. A higher tariff of 54 rupees has been charged for the four peak hours from 6.30pm and a tariff of 25 rupees a unit has been charged for the remaining 13 hours of the day.”

Mr Wickramasekara adds: “We are committed to helping our valued customers to use energy efficiently, save more money and improve our environment for a better future.”

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