Dr Sudath Gunasekara
(මඟ හොඳට තිබේනම් යන්ට දෑසත් පෙනේනම් කිම බැදිවල යන්නේ මන්මුලාවු එකකු සේ
සින්හලයකුගේ කියමනක්)
Sri Lanka is geographically located almost
right at the center of the globe (bet 5-10 degrees N of equator and 80-82
degrees E) and at the middle of the tropics. It is also blessed with the vast
expanse of the Indian Ocean, the third biggest body of water in the world covering
1/5th of the total ocean area of the world right round it extending
7000 miles from N-S and 4900 miles from W-E, East Africa to West Australia. It
is being traversed by seasonal Monsoons that sweep the vast Indian Ocean that
bring unlimited rain to this Island. It is also favourably located within the
trajectory of The Inter Tropical Converging Zone in relation that brings both
surface and upper atmospheric effects such as the burst of the monsoon and
seasonal monsoon rain to the Island. Furthermore, its insularity and its small size
(65,610 km2) and its peculiar and unique physical topography characterized by a
central hill country at the center of the Island, rising abruptly from the surrounding
lowlands and going up to 8281 ft msl at Pidutalagala This peculiar topography
providing for cascading rivers right round the hill country with an annual mean
rainfall of 2000 mm has made Sri Lanka the richest country in water resources
in the world. Regular seasonal winds that
bring alternatively, SW and NE monsoon rain for 11 months in the year with
convectional rain in April, 12 hours daily sunshine right throughout the year all
over the country resulting evergreen tropical rain forests has made it the blessed
evergreen resplendent Isle on earth from the dawn of history.
With such a high volume of perennial river
water cascading down the hills, abundant 12hour uninterrupted sunshine
throughout the year all over the Island and howling and blowing winds at our
disposal and at no cost, I wonder why we go after and fully depend on imported fossil
fuel, coal, natural gaze and dangerous atomic energy spending trillions of
dollars making the nation poorer every day, as the only way to provide energy
to this small Island nation. I ponder as to what are the reasons for this
unfortunate situation? Is it because of
the lack of brain or commitment to nation building on the part of politicians,
policy makers and scientists in the relevant fields?
The following data announced over the
TV on today tells the present pathetic situation in relation to power
production and development in this country.
1 Oil, Coal and gaze 73 %
2 Hydro 25%
3 renewable 2%
In my view this should have been just
the rivers way about after 73 years of so-called Independence and 71 years
after the inauguration of Hydro power by Wimalasurendra in 1950. Doesn’t this
show how the country had been developed by our politicians, policy planners and
scientists in the relevant fields. No wonder today, we, a country that had the
second highest per-capita income at Independence, have to go right round the
world with the begging ball on our heads.
Also, in the same way, is it not the
poverty of vision and mission, creativity, imagination, lack of patriotism and
lack of commitment for nation building OR the fat kickbacks and other unlimited
benefits for politicians, policy makers and scientists in the relevant fields and
their conventional and blind adherence to the so-called, modern technologies of
the West and above all their lethargy, that has given rise to
this unfortunate situation? The nation needs men like Wimalasurendara the Father
of Hydroelectricity in this country He started his struggle in 1923 After his
proposals were rejected and was obstructed, he resigned his job and contested
elections and having entered the State Council in 1931 he continued to fight
and finally completed Luxapana in 1950, the first hydroelectricity project in
Sri Lanka. My question is why can’t the present-day engineers can’t think and
act like Wimalasurerendara. Instead,
knowing that coal is going to be depleted by2050 the engineers of the
electricity Board still fight for Sampur coal Project as if they are unaware of
the fate of Norechchole and the environmental disaster it will bring about
using coal, the most polluting source of power generation. Why do they do so?
Where is the Government, policy planners and engineers who are supposed to be
working for the welfare of the people.
Hydro Electricity
Hydro power combined with Solar and wind
power; I think therefore should be the best solution to our energy crisis. This
combination is also the ideal remedy that can guarantee sustainable power
supply at the lowest cost without any pollution as well as CO2 emission is
almost nil with these sources. All these three power sources are renewed by
nature at no cost. and they don’t depend on imported oil or coal. So, we don’t
need any foreign exchange either to import any fossil fuel. Even locally we
don’t need to pay for the local power sources water sun shine and wind.as they are provided free by
nature. This wealth is indigenous and all three will guarantee un-interrupted supplies
throughout the year for ever. They will never be exhausted and will last as
long as the sun and the world will last.
The most important features of these fuels sources is they are available
at no cost, freely given by mother nature and also pollution free, sans any additional
costs like shipping, insurance taxes and breakdown in transport either etc.
We need only the turbines,( reservoirs,
tunnels in the case of water), solar panels. and wind towers to convert them in
to energy and light. Initially in the short run, we may have to import them.
But with the human talent we have within the country we should be able to
manufacture all these items in no time. That will give rise to a promising
industry that will provide additional employment for millions of people as
well. Considering the unlimited availability of these Raw materials”, for power
generation at low cost we may be able to even export excess power generated to
India and neighboring countries like Bangladesh, that will bring foreign exchange
as well, to jack up our foreign reserves.
All these three power sources also are
pollution free and we will have a cleanand Green environment free from
environmental hazards leading to respiratory and other lung related health problems
as well. It will also save foreign exchange in unprecedented amounts. At the
same time if we can convert all vehicles to the electric model, and encourage
local productions with tax relief, a new chain of industries and employment in
these fields will boost up. Meanwhile wasting
on import of fossil fuel also will be saved.
In this backdrop hydro power, Solar
and Wind power combined, is the best solution to the present energy crisis in
this country. In the long run this energy producing model might even become a
world model that will revolutionize the power industry. Followed by the ‘Hydro-Solar-Wind
model” even ocean waves right round the country could also be made use of to
produce energy. That will give a further boost to the economy. The three
most common sources of energy are Oil, Coal and Atomic power all
monopolized by the industrialized countries. They exploit the so-called Third
World underdeveloped countries like ours, not only by selling these items at
exorbitant prices abut also by tying them up with other means like their
machinery, technical advice, shipping, insurance and banking etc, and keep the
victim countries ever trapped in their hegemonic exploiting noose, thereby
increasing our dependency on exploitive industrialized powers. This is the trap
we are caught up with at present. So long as we depend on oil. Coal and natural
gaze, their machinery and technical advice we have no solace and no escape from
this dependency trap.
The only way we can escape from this fatal
noose is to shift our energy generation to these Three local
miracle Fuels”, that is water, wind and Solar heat all three of which are
abundantly available throughout the year and free. That will also help us to
save all foreign exchange spent on oil, coal and natural gaze and the
dependency on the industrial countries, thereby reducing their interference in
domestic politics and economies as well.
Water our most precious wealth
A recent study on Sri Lanka has
listed this country at the top among the six countries that shares one half of
the 0,3% drinkable water this planet has and moreover Sri Lanka has been
recognized as the only country that will have drinkable water even if there is
going to be a shortage of drinking in the whole world one day, as the result of
environmental damages the countries world over are doing. This news has put
it on the top of the world and made water its biggest asset and the most valuable
commodity Sri Lanka has. The same study has described this country as the
last country on earth that will have
drinking water in the world, even if all the rest run dry.
The threat on our water resources
But all these sweet talks will
disappear in a dream If we don’t protect the geographical heartland (what I
have named as GEOGRAPHICAL HADABIMA of this Island) the Central Hill Country,
the priceless heritage, nature has given to this nation is not protected from
the environmental devastation and destruction going on this nation’s ‘HEART” from
1830s onwards. Even after the British vandals who destroyed 600 000 acres of
virgin forest that were there from the dawn of history and destroyed the
physical instability by uprooting and burning the trees and digging and turning
the soil and by various constructions done by the British planters. They also
destroyed the entire river system, by reducing their annual flow by 50% as Samuel
Baker has pointed out and playing havoc by floods in the downstream areas. These
streams watered and enriched the whole Island protecting the entire life system
in the country both flora and fauna and finally preserved the entire life
system and the civilization on this Island from the dawn of history.
The same process of destruction
continued even after 1948 and continued up to 1972 the year when these estates
were nationalized. Since there was no proper management, these watersheds were
further neglected resulting heavy land erosion and degradation almost beyond
recovery. It was this forest cover on the central watersheds that protected the
land, water the bio diversity and the animal world, underground water table and
the entire river system that had been protected for millions of years by our
ancestors until 1815.as a Protected and strictly reserved National Forest declared
by Royal decree. While further neglecting continued by the State the resident
Indian labour were also mobilized by their trade Union leaders took the law
unto their hand claiming for land and human rights, which they never agitated
for when they were made to suffer like slaves under the British Planters.
All the so-called national political
parties gave in to their demands by bribing trade union leaders to remain in power.
Every time the Governments change these estate Tamils leaders joined the party
in power to get their demands, The successive Governments gave in to all their
demands without caring a damn for thenative people, land, the environment or
the physical stability of the Heartland or the interests of the native Sinhala
people especially those Kandyan Peasants who lost everything they had including
their mother land and even their life in battles fought against the colonial
enemies in defense of the country. Today they have got reduced to a mere set of
paupers sunk in abject poverty[S1] having lost their
Motherland, once happen to be a paradise of their own. The motherland should be
put in the hands of the natives who built up the civilization and not
foreigners.
The survival of the entire life
system and the civilization, in this Island as I have consistently pointed out
from 1991 as the Head of the Sri Lanka Hadabima Authority Project, created by
me the same year to cover 1/3 of the land area of the country was aimed at
protection this HADABIMA of the nation. That too has been now destroyed by
appointing political stooges who are clueless of the broad national objectives
of this Project.
In the days of the Sinhala Kings who found and
fostered the civilization of this country they had protected all land above 3500
ft MSL (except Kotmale , Welimanda and Madaram Nuwara) up to 1815. That was how
they got water to cultivate even three seasons of paddy cultivation in this
country. But since 1815, the entire primeval and virgin forest cover has been
removed by the white invaders for plantation agriculture and millions of South
Indian cheap slave labour were brought and
settled on these estates to maximize their profits.
Adding insult to injury the native
politicians who took over the country from British in 1948 also followed suit
buy continuing the same destructions the white men did to make profits. Native Sinhala
politicians today do it to consolidate their power. They woo the estate Tamil
votes alternatively without any love for the country or the future of their own
lot Sinhalese, without any regard to the great environmental, ecological or
hydrological damages done on the neglected marginal tea estates by the alien
Indian labour force doing day and night.
Although politician talk big of 1948 Independence the criminal
destruction of the watersheds continues by south Indian Tamil community as they
don’t love this country and their heads and hearts are all in South India. An
excellent example of this criminal political party gamble against the natives
by selfish politicians who have no feeling for the future of the country or the
Sinhala nation is given below.
Only few days ago Sajit Premadasa Leader
of the Opposition promised these estate Tamils at Nuwara Eliya Deepawali festival that
his government (a day dream only that will never come to power within his life
time) will make these Indian Tami labourers, the true owners of small holder
tea lands. This is how our politicians look at the Heart Land” of the country
that keep up the beat of the nation in this Islands civilization. The problem
with all our politicians is that none of them know the critical importance of
the Central Highlands in guaranteeing the survival of the entire life system
and the civilization of this Island nation. They also don’t know that we had a
great civilization in the pristine past that was in par with ancient Greek and
Roman civilizations.
I have written volumes on its importance.
I have been writing volumes on the
need to protect these watersheds since 1991 in vain. From 1991, I have addressed
many letters to the President of the Country offering my free services to
rescue the nations HEART land without a salary, but it is a tragedy I
have not got even a reply up to date. None, of these politicians is concerned
about the future of the country or the Sinhala nation. They are only worried about
political power and amazing wealth surrounded by equally selfish Kevattayas
who never make use of the service of those who know the subject. They only know
those who collects votes and kickbacks and pay hosanna day and night
(Vandibhattakayo). None of these politicians realize that the ‘Death” of the
heartland is the death of the country and the Sinhala nation. Them are
interested only in collecting their votes and perks.
So, if we allow this destruction of
the watersheds to continue without arresting it, as early as possible, the day that
will make the curtain fall on the Sinale land and the glory of the Sinhala nation
and the day the whole Island will turn in to a cold sterile desert, sans any
life on it is not that far.
One might wonder as to why I dealt in
such length about the subject of protecting the Central hill country above 1000
feet in this essay, dealing with the energy crisis. I deliberately did so for
the reasons.
First, Hydroelectricity is the chief component
of this proposal and the Central Hill Country is the dynamo that gives life to
the engine that keeps the civilization on this Island moving.
Second as the watersheds on the
central Hill Country are the only source of the nation’s water resources not
only as the nucleus that provides the source for all the country’s rivers but
also its role as a rainmaker and as a stimulator for convection due to its
unusual and abrupt rise from the lowlands to confront the two monsoons when
they cross the Island and activate the rising hot air mases when monsoons are
silent in April to generate convectional rain in mid monsoons (April) and a
giant underground reservoir for the nations underground water deposits that
replenish the rivers in dry weather like the Central Bank in a nation’s
economy.
Third, the critical importance of the
protection of the central watersheds in the process of providing water needed
for the generation of hydroelectricity
Fourth no one can ever dream of hydro
power generation, beside water for survival in Sri Lanka, without protecting
the physical stability of the central watersheds
Finally, Just as the man dies the day
the heart fails similarly hydro power and water for life in Sri Lanka will also
come to an end once the physical stability of the Central watersheds
(Heartland) is gone.
These are the reasons that compelled
me to give a comprehensive account on this subject.
Wind Power .
There is one single name in Sri Lanka
one cannot easily forget when we talk about wind power in this country. That is
my good friend and senior colleague who had been once GA Matara and held many
responsible posts in SLAS and worked as an international Consultant on Development in
many countries like Bangladesh and an extensive traveler all over the world now living in retirement who wrote a versatile
piece in 2019 on Wind Power for Sri Lanka. Anyone interested in what he has to
say can contact him on Garvin- Karunaratne@hotmail.com.
I don’t think I have to add anything to what
Garvin has said on this subject except to add three new places with my
knowledge on the movement of monsoon winds. With distinctive two NE and SW
seasons with spectacular wind gaps all
over the hill country particularly in places like Corbet’s gap Meemure and
Madugoda (Present Udadumbara) and Uduwaaheena on the Knuckles and Ramboda and Kadugannawa in the central hills with howling and blowing winds turned in to energy where all ‘Raw materials” will be local with
no import. As Garvin points out you have only to install wind turbine in place
where the wind blows and howls and not along the sea shore like Mannar or
Hambantota where it only sea breeze
Solar power
Everyone knows that the sun is shining
over the Islands heavens throughout the year, 12 hours a day. So, the unlimited
power to generate electricity is there. One has only to make use of this
natural wealth at least now. In generating solar power we need only to install
solar panels. The government can select few sites in the Island for large scale
generation. Beside that we can also fix solar panels on each and every
building/house. Solar power like wind and hydro power are replenishable as long
as the sun and moon shall last and more over the global position of the Island
will remain unchanged and the physiography of the Island will also remain
unchanged due to tectonic changes
Conclusion
It is also important to note that
fossil fuel and coal supplies will also come to an end one day once their
deposits get exhausted. Recent studies have revealed that oil deposits will get
depleted by 2050 and coal and natural gaze also will be over by 2060. But the
beauty with water, solar power and wind is that they will never get exhausted. They
will generously serve the world as long as the sun, the sky and the atmospheric
circulations are there.
So, if we give top priority to electricity
generated with these three power sources it will not only make us economically
stronger but also will be enjoying the luxury of electric power even when the
whole world that depends on fossil fuels sources goes dark.
[S1]
