President of Sri Lanka Maithripala Sirisena and Jörn Rohde German Ambassador to Sri Lanka and the Maldives officially handed over the facilities awarded for the winner of the Green Energy Champion competition, including a solar PV system which now powers the Ananda College Hostel, at a ceremonious event tagged “Harithananada”.
Minister of Power and Renewable Energy Ranjith Siyambalapitiya was also among the dignitaries invited to the event.
The German Ministry of Foreign Affairs together with The Ministry of Power and Renewable Energy of Sri Lanka, the project implementing partner Deutsche Gesellschaftfür Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH and supporting partners Sri Lanka Sustainable Energy Authority (SLSEA) and the Sri Lanka Energy Managers Association (SLEMA) launched the Green Energy Champion Sri Lanka initiative, a country-wide competition to identify and recognize innovative ideas on improving energy efficiency and encouraging the use of renewable energy in Sri Lanka in summer 2016.
The project comprised a two fold approach including a cross-media campaign as well as the island-wide Green Energy Champion competition.
Ananda College Colombo handed in a holistic approach to energy efficiency which was implemented in autumn 2016. The implementation measures included the installations of a PV-system generating over 24,000 kilowatt hours annually, the upgrading of the school’s already existing composting system and the introduction of a waste management system. Further, several awareness trainings with more than 7,000 students and teachers were carried out.
Jörn Rohde German Ambassador to Sri Lanka and the Maldives said, “I am very happy to see that Sri Lanka has chosen to participate in the combat against global warming and that a steady shift to renewable energy sources is gaining momentum. Through the project “Green Energy Champion Sri Lanka” the German Government represented through the Federal Foreign Office sought to support these ambitions by enhancing the awareness of Sri Lankans of energy efficiency and energy innovations.”
The country-wide competition saw over 80 green energy ideas from individuals, local government institutions, community-based organisations, SMEs and NGOs. Post the preliminary screening, a jury consisting of all stakeholders involved finally decided on the winning green energy proposal at a special meeting held at the Sri Lanka Sustainable Energy Authority office.
Sri Lanka has excellent conditions for using solar energy, biomass and wind energy. Whereas it has almost fully exploited its hydropower capacities, the government currently explores other electricity generation options.
Germany, the world’s fourth largest economy, is currently pioneering an epochal transformation it calls the Energiewende – an energy transition which will substantially change the energy portfolio of the European country.
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