The Hon. Ravi Karunanayake

¶ 01 Hon. Speaker, under Standing Order 27(2), I raise the following.

¶ 02 Despite national commitments on energy security, foreign exchange conservation and clean energy transition, Sri Lanka’s renewable energy sector faces continuous setbacks and apparent curtailments. Thermal generation costs vary from about Rs. 85 to Rs. 175 per unit depending on fuel source and emergency generation; with the rupee’s depreciation (now about Rs. 355/USD), unit costs may be around Rs. 100–225. Policy uncertainty, curtailment practices, priority delays, non-competitive tariff structures, weak incentives for Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS), and prolonged payment arrears for delivered renewable energy have severely impacted the sector. As per FRED, payments to RE suppliers have been withheld since December 2025, with arrears exceeding Rs. 15 billion, affecting around 400 developers and over 1,000 MW of installed capacity.

¶ 03 I ask:

¶ 04 1. Total outstanding to RE developers, by sector. 2. Why payments to thermal suppliers are prioritized over RE; current average unit cost of thermal generation. 3. Relative average unit generation costs for thermal vs. renewables in 2024, 2025, 2026. 4. Technical/policy basis for continued curtailment of RE during weekends/low-demand periods instead of adopting storage and system upgrades. 5. Why BESS tariffs/incentives remain commercially unattractive. 6. How many developers, projects and employees are affected; the banking sector’s exposure to RE debt. 7. Immediate steps to clear arrears over Rs. 15 billion and avert failures in the RE ecosystem. 8. Whether Government will table a comprehensive RE roadmap including tariffs, payment guarantees, storage policy, grid integration and long-term energy security targets.