The Hon. Anura Karunathilaka - Minister of Ports and Civil Aviation and Minister of Energy
The Minister stated that outstanding payments to renewable energy developers total Rs. 8.06 billion, affecting 386 developers, and said Rs. 2 billion had been paid on 19 May 2026 with a further Rs. 1 billion due the following week, with the balance expected to be settled by end-June. He rejected the claim that thermal suppliers were prioritized, saying cash flow decisions were made to maintain fuel availability, grid stability and continuous supply during high demand, high fuel prices and low hydro conditions. He provided comparative unit cost figures for thermal and renewable generation, explained that renewable curtailment occurs only for technical stability reasons, and outlined battery energy storage procurements including 160 MW contracted, a 300 MW tender planned and 100 MW for frequency control ongoing. He also said Cabinet had approved the National Electricity Policy and National Tariff Policy, including a renewable energy roadmap covering tariffs, storage, grid integration and consumer safeguards.
Verbatim record (translated)
Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English¶ 01 Hon. Speaker, responses to the Hon. Member’s questions:
¶ 02 1. Total outstanding to renewable energy developers: Rs. 8,057,852,888.35.
¶ 03 Average cost per unit (Rs.): - Major hydro: 2.05 - Mini hydro: 14.67 - Solar (rooftop and ground-mounted): 25.13 - Wind: 17.40 - Biomass: 38.70 - Waste-to-energy: 36.20
¶ 04 2. It is incorrect that thermal suppliers were prioritized. The priority has been to maintain grid stability and continuous supply amidst record demand, high fuel prices and low hydro. Cash flow was managed to ensure fuel availability. Average projected thermal unit cost for 2026 (interim tariff filing): Rs. 31.99 (energy cost only; capacity costs excluded).
¶ 05 3. Average unit energy costs (Rs.):
¶ 06 - 2024: Thermal 29.86; Renewables (excl. large hydro) 19.98 - 2025: Thermal 28.11; Renewables 21.92 - 2026 (tariff filing): Thermal 31.99; Renewables 23.38
¶ 07 4. There is no policy of continuous curtailment. Any curtailment has been for technical reasons when low demand coincides with high RE output, especially weekends/holidays, risking system stability. Despite ~800 MW additional RE (mainly rooftop solar) in the last 15 months, the grid was maintained with technical measures. BESS tenders: 160 MW awarded and contracted; a 300 MW tender to be floated; 100 MW frequency control BESS procurement is ongoing. Rooftop solar share rose from 6.2% (2024) to 10.7% (2025) and 13.3% (April 2026), showing priority to expand RE.
¶ 08 5. The claim that BESS incentives are unattractive is not borne out; a recent tender attracted 153 bids from 38 bidders with very competitive prices.
¶ 09 6. Number of RE developers affected by delayed payments: 386. Other details will be provided once available.
¶ 10 7. NSO paid Rs. 2 billion on 19 May 2026; another Rs. 1 billion will be paid next week. We expect to fully settle the balance before end-June.
¶ 11 8. The Cabinet has approved the National Electricity Policy and National Tariff Policy to ensure long-term energy security targets, including a comprehensive RE roadmap covering tariffs, storage policy, grid integration and consumer safeguards.
Provenance
- Source
- Hansard, Thursday, 21 May 2026 ·No. 23621 ·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/7324
Cite as: The Hon. Anura Karunathilaka - Minister of Ports and Civil Aviation and Minister of Energy. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 21 May 2026. No. 23621. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/7324