The Hon. Anton Jayakody - Deputy Minister of Environment

¶ 01 Hon. Presiding Member, as we debate the Ministry’s Vote, let us ground ourselves in how electricity is produced. Mechanical energy—converted via turbines from hydraulic head, wind, combustion heat (of hydrocarbons), nuclear heat, hydrogen combustion, or photovoltaic conversion in semiconductors—becomes electrical energy. Batteries store energy electrochemically.

¶ 02 Sri Lanka’s traditional backbone is hydropower. UN surveys in the 1950s estimated about 2,400 MW hydro potential; S. Arumugam’s “Water Resources of Ceylon” (circa 1965) put it around 2,200 MW. The Mahaweli programme realized about 1,400 MW—roughly 38–40% of current capacity.

¶ 03 On wind, Prof. Lakshman D. Guruswamy and teams (early 2000s) estimated up to ~20,000 MW gross potential; a subsequent German expert team indicated around 15,000 MW feasible.

¶ 04 Solar insolation is abundant; with suitable semiconductor conversion, theoretical harvest is vast—orders of magnitude beyond present demand—though practical capture depends on land, grid, and storage.

¶ 05 On storage materials, Sri Lanka’s mineral resources offer prospects. Advances in graphene suggested high-capacity storage pathways (recognized by the 2010 Nobel Prize in Physics). There are also small occurrences of uranium and thorium-bearing minerals (monazite, etc.) along the eastern and southwestern coasts; India has advanced thorium-cycle research. While thorium’s use differs from weapons-grade pathways, it underlines a broader resource conversation. With such potential, why did we face power crises?

¶ 06 Past governments misread global shifts: as the world retired coal in the 1990s–2000s, we were still planning coal plants; hydrology under climate change was under-anticipated. Load shedding of 16–18 hours was inflicted, even during critical A/L exam preparations, and tariffs were raised immediately after. That was poor stewardship.

¶ 07 We must align with global technology: hence in Budget 2026 we begin hydrogen-related initiatives, and, crucially, invest in grid-scale batteries to shave the evening peak (around 2,900 MW) and store off-peak surplus (down to 600–700 MW). We propose private participation to build about 160 MW/640 MWh storage to support renewable integration.

¶ 08 On petroleum: exploratory wells in the Cauvery Basin show gas indications; economic viability is under assessment. Future steps must be transparent. Prior regimes turned preliminary findings into public theatrics rather than results. Thank you.