All the developed countries have reached their level of development through the improvement of technology with massive investments in research and development. Unfortunately we do not have the resources or technology to achieve the success they have achieved. However, the threat of climate change has opened several avenues for countries like ours to prosper. The main issue that threatens climate change is carbon emissions. The developed countries generate tens of thousands of megawatts of electric power of which about 80% is from coal and gas. Hence, in time to come, even for their own survival, they have to see that every ton of carbon emitted should be balanced by power generated from renewable sources.

In order to meet this requirement they have to increase generation from renewable sources at least to 25% of their power needs and it is very unlikely that they can obtain power generated by renewable means within the country. Therefore, it is imperative that they will have to transfer funds to other countries under the Emission Trading Scheme (ETS) to buy carbon credits on the basis of "polluters pay the non-polluters". As such, there is every chance for countries like Sri Lanka to prosper from it, if we tap into this resource. It is quite easy to generate at least 50% from renewable sources of energy as our total power generation is not in the region of tens of thousands of megawatts as we do not need power to heat or cool houses, heat water, illuminate large road networks or to feed large scale industries.

 Hence, developing countries like ours can produce renewable energy with the assistance of developed countries to cut down on carbon emissions for the benefit of everyone. It is now up to the developing countries to use this opportunity to raise the standard of living of our people before developing massive coal power stations that our people do not need even in the near future. Furthermore, the future of coal is very bleak because of the increasing freight cost and the carbon emissions. Under these circumstances what we should do is to work on a target of 50% from fossil fuels and 50% from renewable sources. At present, we are about 60% from fossil fuels and 40% from renewable sources and in time to come, the ratio will be 80% and 20% respectively. In fact, we are moving in the opposite direction.

 Our standard of living depends heavily on the availability of affordable energy and unfortunately it has to come mostly from fossil fuels. Energy from the sun is the only source that is available in abundance to overcome this problem. Heat and light energy is available mostly in the tropical regions where the developing countries are situated. Therefore, the developed countries have now decided to maintain some balance between energy from fossil fuels and the energy from renewable sources. Under this arrangement as I mentioned earlier, the developing countries will have a better future if we make use of this opportunity with some ingenuity instead of looking for age old coal, oil etc. which the advanced countries are reluctantly compelled to use because of their high consumption for power. However, this cannot be continued indefinitely. Natural disasters due to climate change have already become more frequent. The world is fully aware of the consequences of Climate Change such as severe droughts, reduction of water supplies, more cyclones and floods. It is therefore, imperative to take timely action in this regard.

 Among the renewable sources of energy, the most reliable is the solar panel, which is now a proven technology, to feed the national grid. The only disadvantage is, its availability only during daytime. Nevertheless, it can be used during the day and also can be stored in the form of energy in our hydro schemes by pumping the water up so that there onwards the supply will be as steady as from a thermal power station. Furthermore, now there are, large electric motor driven pumps to pump as well as to work as turbo generators quite efficiently. CEB may not be able to tackle these problems by themselves. Hence, they may be able to get a company from one of the developed nations to organise the first installation, to be continued thereafter by CEB. Thus, hydro capacity can be increased by at least 50%, giving a total of about 1500MW and another 1000MW from solar panels to meet the daytime demand and to meet the target of 50% generation from renewable sources, thus creating room for the generation of 2500MW from fossil fuels so that a total of 5000MW could be made available in about five years to meet the power demand of the next 10 years.

 I suggest that German help be sought, because Germany is a country where they have the highest proportion of 46 watts per capita from renewable sources, totalling over 4000 MW of power from solar and wind. I am not in anyway underestimating the capabilities of CEB engineers. In fact, I consider them very capable engineers who have very efficiently, covered almost the whole Island with a national grid within a very short time. This is an achievement that we Sri Lankans should be proud of. Because of this network there is every possibility of installing solar panels on every roof to generate several thousand of megawatts.

The cost of solar power is coming down, while the cost of fossil fuel is going up. Thus narrowing the gap and very soon power from solar panels will be cheaper. The capital investment needed can be met from people for whom this will be a new area of investment without any risk. If a consumer gets a 1KW solar panel installed on the roof to feed the national grid he will be able to generate an average of 150 units of electricity a month and if he uses about 60 units for cooking and another 40 units for lighting etc. he will be able to sell 50 units to the CEB at say Rs.18/- a unit and his income from this will be Rs.900/- a month.

The cost of a 1KW panel including accessories, to connect it to the grid will be about Rs.300,000/- and if the total amount is borrowed at 6% interest to pay back in 20 years, his monthly payment works out to Rs.2,149.29. When the income of Rs.900/- is deducted from it he will have to pay only 1249.29. Since the monthly payments will be almost the same for 20 years his earning from this investment will increase as the cost of electricity goes up. Being an emission free project, funds will be available in the international market, at less than 6% interest.