Energy sector plays a key role in a country’s development. In a region like South Asia where development is key, the resources for energy is vital to be utilized in a sustainable manner, while the countries play a role in cooperation for technology and resource sharing. Many initiatives have been taken at the regional level to highlight the need for sharing of resources. This is due to lack of sufficient resources to develop energy in some countries, while for others, sharing of energy could be deemed as a form of economic development.

However, in developing energy resources it is important that the countries adopt a sustainable approach. The Paris Agreement on climate change provides the opportunity to countries, under the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), the means of cutting down emissions, as well as technology and capacity building opportunities that could lead to regional cooperation. Further, the NDCs provide the opportunity for the region to work together for accessing finance for climate change related actions, and to facilitate the enhancement of the renewable energy sector.

This research paper explores the opportunities that lie for developing the energy sector in Sri Lanka, and the opportunities for enhancing renewable energy generation in the country. It focuses on the NDCs related to solar and wind energy that have been developed for Sri Lanka, and the activities the country has planned out for achieving the NDCs during the readiness phase (2017-2019) for the implementation of NDCs. This is with the aim to contribute in enhancing the potential for renewable energy in the country, and the link it provides for promoting regional cooperation.

Further, the research provides recommendations on private public partnerships for enhancing the renewable energy potential at the national and regional level, partnerships at the South Asian level for climate finance and technology transfer, and capacity building of countries for generating and sharing renewable energy which builds on the SAARC energy cooperation

Download the full report here.