The Hon. Ravi Karunanayake
Ravi Karunanayake argued that renewable energy tariffs, even with battery storage, are cheaper than oil-based power and LNG when capacity charges and fuel imports are considered. He criticized the discouragement of rooftop solar after the Panadura incident while emergency power purchase agreements continue, and said current tax relief for renewable investments is negligible against actual capital costs. He urged the Government to prioritize domestic renewable resources, provide adequate battery concessions, and explain why oil-based generation appears to be preferred over renewables.
Verbatim record (translated)
Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English¶ 01 Hon. Speaker, since both Ministers replied, let me note: Oil-based power costs around Rs. 66 per kWh including capacity charges, and up to Rs. 78 in some cases. Paying Rs. 25–32 to renewables compared to much higher oil costs makes economic sense; money otherwise goes overseas for oil. After the Panadura incident in February, rooftop solar has been discouraged while emergency PPAs with capacity charges proceed. Qualifying payments (tax relief) are capped at Rs. 600,000, but a 1 MW project needs about Rs. 120 million capex—thus relief is negligible. Please prioritize nature-given resources with adequate battery concessions; even if the unit price is Rs. 40–60, it is below oil-based cost. LNG and certain projects are also around Rs. 80 per unit. Wind is firm; solar with batteries is firm. Why the preference for oil over renewables?
Provenance
- Source
- Hansard, Tuesday, 8 July 2025 ·No. 1752482630017444 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
- Page · column
- not yet extracted — page/column anchors are not in the current dataset; the source PDF is the citable location.
- Permalink
/lk/speeches/10901
Cite as: The Hon. Ravi Karunanayake. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 8 July 2025. No. 1752482630017444. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/10901