“Lanka should invest more in cheap energy from ocean wind power”
Sri Lanka should focus and invest more in generating cheap energy from wind power from the ocean, said Deputy Director China – Sri Lanka Joint Center for Education & Research (CSL-CER) Jinglong Yao.
He said that China is successfully extracting cheap energy from wind power in the China seas. “After making the initial investment to generate power from the alternative power sources, the generation cost will be one of the cheapest in the world.”
He said this at a special interview with Daily News Business during the China-Sri Lanka Joint Symposium of Coral Reef Ecology held in Colombo recently. The event was organized in order to promote academic exchange in the field of coral reef research between China and Sri Lanka, and further enhance the research and conservation of coral reef ecosystems in both countries.
CSL-CER would like to introduce the technology to Sri Lanka which will help the country to save a huge amount of FOREX that are used to burn diesel to produce electricity. Yao who is also a Senior Scientist at South China Sea Institute of Oceanology CAS-SCSIO Guangzhou, China said that one of the biggest advantages in generating power would be that it is 100% environmentally friendly as it does not generate any emissions. Generating energy from the ocean is also conducive towards coral reef ecosystem protection in Sri Lanka as the coral reef ecosystem needs to be protected by reducing emission.
He said that CSL-CER is working with University of Ruhuna (UoR), and University of Peradeniya (UoP) to share some of the modern technological systems that can be adopted in many sectors including fisheries and also extract more marine resources.
The Chinese Academy of Sciences signed the cooperation agreement for the creation of CSL-CER in 2014 and the Memorandum of Understanding on water research and technology cooperation was inked in March 2015 between the two countries.
The CSL-CER was established in 2015 by UoR, UoP from Sri Lanka, and SCSIO, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences (RCEES), University of Chinese Academy of Sciences from China.
Both countries then issued a joint statement to demonstrate the commitment to enhancing bilateral cooperation in various fields including ocean observation, ocean meteorology, ecological conservation, education and the training of marine talents, Joint Center for Water Technology Research and Demonstration ect. This was done in the presence of then Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe during his official visit to China in 2016.
The CSL-CER has hosted 8 workshops on topics concerned by both sides since 2015, such as marine environment and sustainable development, which have made a significant impact in related academic fields worldwide.
CSL-CER set up “Sri Lanka Marine Environmental Science Master Program” under the framework of the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences and enrolled students from 2016.