France to provide 450,000 euros for renewable energy in Sri Lanka

The French Development Agency (AFD) signed a grant agreement worth 450,000 euros with the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) and Electricité de France (French electric utility) to support the increasing share of intermittent renewable energies in Sri Lanka’s energy mix.

The agreement was signed by AFD Country Director Reda Souirgi, CEB Chairman Nalinda Illangakoon and EDF Centre for Transportation Systems Engineering representatives in the presence of Ambassador of France to Sri Lanka Jeanfrançois Pactet.

Despite the ongoing economic crisis, France continues to support Sri Lanka’s ambitious path towards 70 percent renewable energy by 2030. This cooperation aims at enhancing the CEB capacities

in integrating renewable energy from the optimisation of the procurement for transmission line projects to the modelling capacities of energy generation and transmission.

“This programme is the fruit of a long-lasting knowledge exchange and an example of the synergies that close cooperation between Sri Lanka and France can bring towards achieving our shared objectives to combat climate change,” said Pactet. Following the signature, Pactet and EDF representatives visited the Kalutara substation, a sample of the achievements done by the CEB, under the Green Power Development and Energy Efficiency Improvement Investment Programme and financed by AFD. In total, AFD committed nearly 80 million euros to supporting the CEB to meet the growing energy demand and diversify the Sri Lankan energy mix.