Sri Lanka has identified 14 sites along its coastline to build power plants using energy from ocean waves as part of a move to shift to renewable energy sources and reduce reliance on costly fossil fuel.
The island’s energy deficit is increasing as rapid economic growth generates higher demand for electricity, said Kamal Tennakoon, a scientist and director of the Oceanography Division of the National Aquatic Resources Agency.
“So alternative sources like wave energy can play a significant role in Sri Lanka,” he told the annual sessions of the Sri Lanka Association for the Advancement of Science.
Wind power plants and trial projects using solar energy and biomass are already in place.
”Apart from this there is huge potential in the ocean,” Tennakoon said.“Wave and ocean thermal energy conversion are most promising energy sources which can be harnessed to generate electricity.”
Harnessing energy from waves mainly depends on offshore current movements and the twin monsoonal patterns.
The island is affected by the south-west monsoon which is the stronger of the two and covers the western coast, and the north-east monsoon, which covers the northern and eastern coastal belts.
“Apart from that we have the coastal tip on the southern belt influenced by both monsoons,” Tennakoon said. “We have noticed waves with high energy potential throughout the year.”
NARA has initially decided to consider only areas where high energy potential waves are available.
A survey done of potential sites found 14 places most suitable for wave power plants, Tennakoon said.
Power plants can be either coastal structures or floating type and make use of either the kinetic energy of waves or differences in temperature at varying depths and are non-polluting.
He said that initially a sites would have to be selected to set up a prototype power plant which would then provide the experience needed to build commercial plants.
