Govt. approves electricity generation through LNG
Cabinet sub-committee chaired by Special Assignments Minister Dr. Sarath Amunugama was appointed on July 17th this year to decide the feasibility on adopting the generation of electricity through the use of Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) and providing the necessary infrastructure for the project as part of the Government of Sri Lanka’s (GoSL) public policy initiative.
The Cabinet on Tuesday (29) has officially approved the public policy on LNG use for generating electricity.
The sub-committee deliberated on the need to diversify on sources that generate power and the need to reduce on the cost of generation. After assessing these criteria, the sub-committee provided its recommendations to the Cabinet.
Following close analysis the recommendations submitted by the sub-committee, the Cabinet has approveed the generation of electricity through the use of LNG as a public policy initiative.
The Cabinet approval allows project implementation to set up several LNG power plants by 2019 with the capacity to generate 1,000 megawattsof power. The projects however, will also have to provide the relevant infrastructure for import and unload of LNG in Sri Lanka.
OSL TAKE:
The Government of Sri Lanka is in the process of looking at ways to mitigate the looming power crisis expected to hit the nation by 2020. The annual increase in power consumption is expected to be two fold in the next three years. Therefore, the government decision to expand into this alternative energy generation source will help mitigate Sri Lanka’s energy crisis.
The latest Cabinet approval will allow energy companies that use LNG to generate electricity in other parts of the world to enter into the Sri Lanka energy market and spearhead this new initiative.
It will also allow energy corporations to submit proposals for other innovative and cost-effective methods of generating power as Sri Lanka’s Cabinet appears to be receptive of such progressive proposals.
Article Code : | VBS/AT/31082017/Z_5 |