At the beginning of the 1970s, the industrial countries accounted for about 80%of world oil consumption. Today, they are down to little more than 50%. Already, China uses more total primary energy than United States. Developing countries are in the process of consuming a substantial amount of energy due to alarming growth, industrialization, urbanization etc. With a tight and volatile oil market, combined with sharply rising consumption in emerging countries there is renowned concerns about energy security.
Various models are being implemented in these countries with the help of donors and local governments to enhance the use of renewable energy fora sustainable development. Use of renewable energy for rural electrification has not progressed as anticipated regardless of provisions of subsidies &other measurers by governments. In Sri Lanka, the primary energy contributions in 2009 to national energy supply were 51% from biomass, 44.8% from crude oil and petroleum products, and 3.6% from hydroelectricity and other renewable sources.
The use of non-conventional energy resources, NCRE, (small-scale hydropower, biomass, biogas and waste, solar power and wind power) in Sri Lanka is of a relatively smaller scale (<1%) and therefore its contribution is presently of low significance in the macro energy picture. Regardless, the energy policy document of the government of Sri Lanka has set a target to reach a minimum level of 10% of electrical energy supplied to the grid to be from non-conventional renewable energy in 2015.
In this context, this study attempts to analyse the strengths and weaknesses of the existing financial and institutional models for renewable energy dissemination for rural electrification in Sri Lanka and to recommend possible measures needed for better financial and institutional models. In addition to a literature survey, a questionnaire survey was carried out with power producers, financial institutions and government and non-government organizations in the renewable energy business to obtain their perception for better analysis.
Source: KTH
Author: Salih, Nizam