Jivanka Kavishan Pathirage

Advancement of the energy sector and its implication for sustainable development in Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka, a tropical island with abundant renewable energy resources, faces energy security challenges and financial constraints. The country has set ambitious targets, such as achieving 70% renewable electricity by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2050. However, the power sector struggles with high generation costs, limited investment, and implementation delays. Existing policies primarily focus on technical, economic, and environmental factors, with less emphasis on social, regulatory, and innovation aspects.

This research addresses the need for a comprehensive framework to evaluate Sri Lanka's energy strategy. It develops a sustainability-focused framework (Research Question (RQ) 1), applies it to assess the current strategy (RQ 2), and offers policy recommendations (RQ 3). A pragmatic mixed-methods approach was used, involving qualitative data collection and both qualitative and quantitative analysis. Data were gathered from literature and 23 interviews with energy sector experts, selected through non-probability sampling, and analysed using thematic coding.

The resulting Energy Strategy Consideration (ESC) framework (RQ 1) comprises 22 considerations categorized into seven groups: Technical Feasibility, Economic Viability, Environmental Impact, Social Acceptance, Political and Regulatory Support, Innovation and Academia Involvement, and Resilience and Adaptability. The evaluation of the current energy strategy (RQ 2) using these considerations highlighted both strengths and weaknesses, such as strong performance in emissions reduction but poor outcomes in forecasting techniques, leveraging local leaders, corruption mitigation, streamlining approvals, and industry-relevant research. These findings led to several policy recommendations (RQ 3), including improving forecasting techniques, engaging grama sewaka (village leader) in public awareness, establishing an integrated approval body, and promoting academia-industry collaboration.

This research offers practical value to Sri Lankan policymakers by providing a robust tool for evaluating and refining energy strategies. Theoretically, it contributes to the existing body of knowledge by integrating expert insights into the framework development, complementing existing literature.