Assessment of sustainable energy potential of non-plantation biomass resources in Sri Lanka

This paper discusses the importance of biomass as a source of energy in Sri Lanka and assesses the sustainable national non-plantation biomass resource potential. Different biomass sources, both direct and indirect, are considered in the analysis. The direct sources include agricultural and wood residues, animal manure, municipal solid waste and wastewater. The indirect sources include fuelwood conservation through efficiency improvements and fuelwood savings through fuel switching. The potential of each source is estimated for the base year 1997 as well as for the years 2005 and 2010. The total energy potential of these sources in 1997, 2005 and 2010 is 120 PJ, 133 PJ and 142 PJ, respectively. The corresponding electricity generation potentials are 8.34, 9.24 and 9.85 TWh, respectively for a conversion efficiency of 25%. The annual electricity demand in Sri Lanka 1997 was 4.20 TWh and the forecast values for the years 2005 and 2010 are 10.50 and 15.60 TWh respectively; this implies that the biomass sources could contribute significantly towards meeting the future electricity requirement.