The official launching of the GCP/SRL/048/GFF Project supported fuelwood plantation establishment programme of the Forest Department and the corner stone laying for first biomass energy terminal supported by the Project was held on 12 February 2017 with the participation of Hon. Minister Ranjith Siyambalapitiya, Minister of the Power and Renewable Energy at Konwewa village in Eppawala, Anuradhapura, and at Pitiyakanda Estate in Mawathagama, Kurunegala, respectively.  Further, Secretaries of the Ministry of the Power and Renewable Energy & Ministry of the Mahawali Development and Environment, Conservator General of Forest, District Secretaries, Director General of Sri Lanka Sustainable Energy Authority, participated in this official ceremony.

Building an enabling environment for sustainable fuelwood supply is one of the key activities of the project. This is primarily aimed at catalyzing commercial investment for modernized fuelwood supply chains through establishment of a physical location for storage and value addition, a system of checks and balances against ad hoc collection and adherence to quality criteria. The idea is to build a larger local market for sustainably produced fuelwood and raise investor confidence among private sector willing to shift their energy source from fossil fuel to sustainable biomass energy.

The goal of the GEF/UNDP/FAO funded project titled “Promoting Sustainable Biomass Energy Production and Modern Biomass Technologies” is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the use of fossil fuel for thermal energy generation in the industrial sector of Sri Lanka.

Sustainable production of biomass energy is important to prevent deforestation, preserve biodiversity, to help cut down GHG emissions that contribute to climate change and mostly to promote the increased use of biomass energy as an option against fossil fuel.  A standard for sustainable fuelwood production has been developed to facilitate and promote sustainable biomass energy. The criteria that define sustainable biomass production include: legal and regulatory compliance, environmental values and impacts and benefits to the community amongst other. 

A biomass energy terminal will serve to cater for the requirements of industry and even out demand and supply fluctuations. As such the energy terminal will help boost the confidence of the industrial sector and the biomass production sector on the longer term sustainability of the biomass energy sector. The terminals are anticipated to create jobs and improve income to rural households. The biomass energy terminal will adopt criteria and indicators developed for sustainable fuel wood production and source fuelwood accordingly. Volumes that are certified sustainable and as well as volumes that are not sourced from sustainable sources will be tracked and label accordingly for the benefit of the end users. At present, the criteria and indicators apply only for fuel wood and do not apply to other sources like agro waste and residues.

The project has established pilot demonstration growing models under the FAO supported Components of the Project with Forest Department, CBOs and NGOs in the districts where the terminals are to be established. So far around 550ha of different growing models were established fuelwood plantations established by the forest department and CBOs/NGOs in Puttalama, Anuradhapura, Kurunagala, Mathale, Rathnapura, Nuwaraeliya, Badulla and Matara districts. These models will assist in increasing the production of biomass energy, which will deliver benefits to the society.