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| Tuesday, 17 August 2004 |
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Rs. 100 m Dendro power plant to boost national grid by Sudarshana Perera Lanka Transformers would connect its 1 M W woody biomass Dendro power plant at Walapane to the national grid next month. A Rs 100 million venture, this plant would provide electricity to more than 3,000 houses. Ceylon Tobacco Company (CTC) has undertaken to coordinate the supply of Ginisiriya (Gliricidia sepium) which would be combusted and converted into energy through turbine technology. Operations Manager and Mechanical Engineer of Lanka Transformers Indika Gallage told the Daily News that the project would consume Ginisiriya branches to the value of Rs 80,000 per day and it would provide direct and indirect employment opportunities for people around the area. Gallage said that only Ginisirya branches are harvested on a rotational basis to ensure that the trees remain intact which is vital for conservation of the environment. "Global biomass energy production has seen a rapid growth in recent years and is today acclaimed as one of the most environment friendly sources of renewable energy. The Dendro power plant could be used as a low cost renewable source of energy while supporting rural economy and conserving foreign exchange", he said. Deputy Managing Director of CTC, Jayampathi Bandaranaike said that the Dendro concept has been spoken about in Sri Lanka for over twenty years and CTC has been involved in the propagation of Ginisiriya in its "Sloping Agricultural Land Technology" (SALT) to promote soil conservation and enrichment. "The project would be a boon for the rural community. We would operate an outgrower network with about 4,000 farmers in the Walapane, Ududumbara and Badulla areas, buying back the wood and supplying Lanka Transformers. It takes about 40 MT of wood a day to feed the 1.2 MW power plant", Bandaranaike said. This process was used in the Scandinavian countries during the Second World War, using widely available wood instead of fuel oil. This process of repeated harvest from a single tree could go on for many years, as only the side branches are lopped off when they reach about one or two inches in diameter. Today the country consumes 47% hydro power, 53% being thermal energy. |
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