USAID, SLSEA partner to empower businesses with innovative energy efficiency solution
Daily FT: USAID, in collaboration with Sri Lanka Sustainable Energy Authority (SLSEA) through its Sri Lanka Energy Programmed, introduced the National Energy Benchmarking Portal (NEBP). This innovative platform is designed to assist businesses in curbing electricity consumption by promoting efficient practices and conservation methods, thereby addressing the challenges posed by escalating energy costs. The launch of NEBP marks a significant step toward a more sustainable and energy-efficient future for businesses in Sri Lanka.
The National Energy Benchmarking Portal (NEBP) is the result of two years of collaboration between USAID, SLSEA and select private organizations. The portal is a digital solution to disseminate energy consumption data and will be managed by SLSEA as a central repository for energy consumption data from all industrial, commercial, and Government facilities in Sri Lanka, starting with supermarkets and the financial sector.
Organizations can submit their energy consumption and other data required for benchmarking through the portal, which contains data from a company’s own facilities and allows a company to compare its performance against the SLSEA benchmarks. The portal will improve the efficiency and accuracy of data entry and analysis for nearly one million consumer accounts, allowing for the identification and comparison of consumption patterns in real time.
USAID/Sri Lanka Director of Economic Growth Christopher Powers called the new portal a critical tool to support energy efficiency initiatives. “USAID, through the Sri Lanka Energy Programmed, aims to introduce clean energy and reduce excess energy use across Sri Lanka. This portal is a critical tool that will support USAID investments to power an energy sector that is secure, efficient and sustainable,” he said.
“We initiated a mandatory energy efficiency and conservation (EE&C) program many years after voluntary programmers failed to impress the majority of Sri Lankan enterprises,” said SLSEA Chairman Ranjith Sepala. “Due to their low-cost energy supply, businesses rarely make energy efficiency and conservation investments despite their financial appeal. Now, with realistic energy prices, is the ideal time to engage businesses in EE&C, and we appreciate USAID’s assistance in digitizing our process.”
OSL take:
Sri Lanka’s power and energy sector has become a hotspot for business/investment opportunities given the ongoing economic activities and the growing demand in the sector. With Sri Lanka working towards becoming an emerging business destination in the South Asian region supported by the country’s geographical positioning in the Indian Ocean and the many trade agreements as well as trade concessions enjoyed by the country, there is bound to be a steady overall growth in Sri Lanka’s economy. All this will create a host of new business/investment opportunities in the country’s power and energy sector, especially in the renewable energy sector. The decision of the government of Sri Lanka to increase the country’s power generation mix to cover 70% of renewable and clean energy has given a further boost to the renewable energy generation sector. The growth and profits recorded by local businesses engaged in the renewable energy sector is indicative of the overall business potential in Sri Lanka’s renewable energy sector. Foreign businesses/investors could therefore explore the expanding opportunities in Sri Lanka’s power and energy sector, especially in the renewable energy sector.
| Article Code : | VBS/AT/20231010/Z_5 |