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Re-Energizing the Power Sector in Sri Lanka .

Sustainable Energy Transition | Environment and Natural Resources | Environmental and Climate Risk Management | Water and Sustainable Cities
Asia

Sri Lanka Energy Program

Project Dates: June 2021 - June 2026
USAID’s Sri Lanka Energy Program partners with power sector stakeholders to help Sri Lanka’s electricity sector transition to a more secure, reliable, and sustainable system.

Sri Lanka’s power system currently faces considerable challenges that limit the country’s ability to secure the electricity supplies it needs to fuel rapid economic growth while progressing toward its target of generating 80% renewable energy by 2030. The Ceylon Electricity Board, a state-owned utility, is financially weak due to non-cost reflective tariffs and high generation costs. The national grid infrastructure and policy and regulatory environment are also fragile and in need of modernization so that Sri Lanka can realize its bright prospects, making the most of its skilled workforce and abundant natural resources.

USAID’s Sri Lanka Energy Program partners with many power sector stakeholders, including the Ceylon Electricity Board, to help Sri Lanka’s electricity sector transition to a more secure, reliable, sustainable, and market-based system. The program supports Sri Lanka in restoring cost-reflectivity in the country’s electricity tariffs, increasing investment in clean energy resources, improving demand-side management programs to increase energy efficiency, and supporting the deployment of advanced energy technologies.

The program assists Sri Lanka with positioning itself to sustain rapid economic growth and meet its 2030 target by strengthening the Ceylon Electricity Board’s finances and operational systems, building a healthier technical and regulatory environment for advanced energy systems, and engaging the private sector more actively across the electricity sector. This work will enable Sri Lanka to increase its use of renewable resources, achieve its sustainable development goals, and improve its economic competitiveness.

Project Goals


  • Foster a tariff-setting process with transparent data and public engagement to achieve more cost-reflective tariffs
  • Improve energy sector planning to accommodate increases in renewable energy, such as rooftop and floating solar
  • Improve the competitive tendering processes to reduce costs and foster the emergence of local vendors and suppliers
  • Improve system capacity to integrate variable renewable energy and energy storage
  • Identify priority demand-side management options and support implementation
  • Catalyze private sector investment in energy efficiency and renewable energy
Two people facing each other in conversation, seated on a stage, as seen from the audience

Financing the Future: Unlocking Capital for the Energy Transition in Low- and Middle-Income Countries

Chanaka Wickramasuriya, Chief of Party of the USAID-funded Sri Lanka Energy Program, joined Foreign Policy's Allison Carlson for a conversation on unlocking capital for the energy transition in low- and middle-Income countries.

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