'SL needs to double electricity capacity every 10 years'

Ramani KANGARAARACHCHI

Sri Lanka needs to double electricity capacity every 10 years as the country's energy supply system faces major strategic challenges due to a high annual electricity demand growth rate, M.N.K. de Silva of the Moratuwa University said presenting a paper on Building Energy Consumption Factors and Future Research Agenda at the World Construction Symposium at Cinnamon Grand Hotel on Saturday.

He said energy statistics confirm that the building sector depends heavily on energy, exceeding the industrial and transportation sectors. This is due to initiation of large scale development projects after three decades of war.

Meanwhile, the Power and Energy Ministry has predicted power cuts due to lack of rainfall in the hydro-catchment areas. Oil price hikes will have a great impact on the operation of thermal power plants.

Sri Lanka has become the highest electricity bill spender in Asia and the status of energy poverty seems alarming. Occupant behaviour towards energy consumption has a significant impact on energy poverty. It is important to investigate the factors influencing the rise of energy consumption and their impact on power crisis to alleviate energy poverty, de Silva said.

Elaborating on five main factors for rising energy consumption namely climate, building related characteristics, building systems and services related characteristics and occupant, socio-economic, and legal related characteristics, he said another 40 sub factors causing energy consumption rise have been identified by the researchers.

De Silva said 80 percent of the effects come from 20 percent of the causes. It is essential to identify key factors causing energy usage rise to reduce energy consumption, he said.