The Hon. (Dr.) Harini Amarasuriya - Prime Minister and Minister of Education, Higher Education and Vocational Education

¶ 01 Hon. Speaker, the answers to the Questions raised by Hon. Asitha Niroshana Egoda Vithana are as follows:

¶ 02 1. A target has been set to achieve 70% of national electricity generation from renewable sources by 2030, and plans required to achieve this target are being prepared and implemented. Accordingly, under the Sri Lanka Sustainable Energy Authority’s Renewable Development Plan (2025-2030), additions planned to the national grid include 1,274 MW of wind and 2,071 MW of solar. Further: - Under the Long-Term Generation Plan, arrangements have been made to absorb more renewable energy into the national grid under various procurement schemes. - Work is underway to expand the national transmission and distribution system to enable greater uptake of renewable energy. - Energy storage systems are to be introduced to facilitate optimal absorption of renewable energy.

¶ 03 Hon. Speaker, this is one of the most important steps taken by our Government. No matter how much renewable power we generate, without proper storage facilities we cannot derive full benefit. In my view, this is a decisive step we have taken.

¶ 04 Under this, procurement has been completed for 160 MW of BESS. Further, Cabinet approval was granted on 30.03.2026 to carry out procurement for 250 MW of BESS in five lots of 50 MW each.

¶ 05 In addition, Pumped Hydro Storage is to be introduced, and studies are underway to augment installed capacity at existing hydropower plants.

¶ 06 Project progress: - 5 MW/10 MWh Hambantota BESS: Pilot project successfully commenced and is operational. - 160 MW/640 MWh BESS: Procurement completed; construction has commenced across 16 grid substations with a total of 640 MWh. - 50 MW/200 MWh BESS to be associated with existing solar plants: National System Operator (NSO) is preparing procurement documents to add 200 MWh storage to operating solar plants; to be implemented on private sector investment. - 250 MW/1000 MWh standalone BESS: NSO is preparing procurement documents; to be implemented with private sector investment. - 100 MW/100 MWh Kolonnawa BESS: Implemented under an Asian Development Bank (ADB) loan; procurement process is underway. - 100 MW/400 MWh Southern BESS: Preparation of Request for Proposals (RFP) is in progress with ADB support.

¶ 07 Additionally, as a grant from the Government of the Republic of Korea, a 10 MWh BESS has been constructed in Hambantota. The 160 MW/640 MWh project is on private-sector investment.

¶ 08 3. Funding: - 100 MW/100 MWh Kolonnawa BESS under ADB loan facilities. - 100 MW/400 MWh Southern BESS with ADB support; RFP preparation ongoing. - 10 MWh Hambantota BESS as a grant from the Government of Korea. - 160 MW/640 MWh and other BESS initiatives via private sector investment.

¶ 09 4. Benefits: - Mitigates potential grid instability when integrating solar. - Enables more efficient utilization of variable renewable sources like solar and wind. - Reduces the need for expensive emergency power generation. - Improves grid reliability and power quality. - Properly procured BESS projects and well-structured Energy Storage Agreements can enable reduction of electricity tariffs.

¶ 10 All this aligns with promises in our policy statement and is now being implemented.