Hemas Power to tap offshore renewable energy

By Jithendra Antonio

Hemas Power PLC (HPWR) is actively exploring opportunities offshore in the renewable energy front, the company says.

In the lately published annual financials of the company, Managing Director Kishantha Nanayakkara says that Hemas Power (HPWR) continues to remain bullish on the hydropower sector and remains strongly committed to pursue opportunities to acquire or develop viable hydropower projects  whilst keeping a vigilant but cautious eye on emerging opportunities in other renewable energy segments.

 “We also believe the time is right for us to look beyond our shores.” Nanayakkara stresses adding that despite the existence of challenges and hurdles, taking stock of the country’s available opportunities, Hemas Power finds it is most opportune to align its growth strategy in the renewable energy space.

 Nanayakkara further stresses that although over 86% of the country’s households are electrified, the per-capita electricity consumption in Sri Lanka even in comparison to other South Asian countries, stands amongst the lowest.

“If the per-capita income level of Sri Lankans increases at a faster pace as widely anticipated, it appears obvious that the household electricity consumption will rise” he says adding that such a growth will fuel greater economic activity as well as greater electricity demand from the industry front too.

“Since a positive correlation exists between national growth and electricity demand, the demand for electricity in post-war Sri Lanka in the medium-term is poised to increase.” Nanayakkara outlines in his review noting as per the Long-term Generation Plan (LTGP) of the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) the country’s electricity demand is estimated to increase by 5,430MW by 2022.

 According to him, Hemas Power believes the anticipated increase in electricity demand is considerably higher now as the LTGP estimates were prepared before the war concluded.

He further goes in to explain that whilst 2,740MW of this demand is expected to be met through coal-power plants, Hemas Power believes that having coal-fired power generation to such a magnitude albeit its perceived lower operational cost compared to oil-burning power plants could pose different challenges especially on the environment front.

“In this context, it is seemingly imperative that efforts to maximize usage of renewable energy resources to generate power are fast tracked” Nanayakkara notes.

According to Nanayakkara, it is not yet clear, whether the long-term demand for power generation to be met through larger thermal plants will be met through Independent Power Producers (IPP) or not.

 “It can be assumed that some portion of the requirement will at least be met through the IPPs.”
 On the other-hand, it is quite evident that a bulk of the renewable energy power generation - be it hydropower, wind or bio-mass, will be met through IPPs as per Kishantha Nanayakkara.

 He further stresses that the previous National Energy Policy target to reach 10% of the country’s energy generation through renewable energy sources by 2015 that was revised upwards to reach 20% by 2020 is a positive effort.

 He further stresses that although some measures taken in the policy making front are positive, there were many negative signs that emerged during the year especially against the interest of the hydropower sector.

source - www.dailymirror.lk