Sunshine says govt.’s halfhearted commitment triggered its exit from renewable energy biz

Although various reasons are cited for the months-long power crisis, Sunshine Holdings PLC charged that the authorities had a lukewarm commitment towards the generation of renewable energy by the private sector. 

The diversified conglomerate, Sunshine Holdings last year exited from the power sector as the company was unable to generate returns due to regulatory issues and other hurdles. 
“During the year under review, your company exited the energy sector, which was plagued by regulatory issues and other hurdles that precluded the delivery of the expected return on investment,” Sunshine Holdings Chairman Amal Cabraal said.

“Sadly, there was insufficient commitment by the government for the generation of renewable energy by the private sector”, he added in his letter to the shareholders. 

Despite the lofty ambitions to generate 70 percent of power from renewable energy sources by 2030 before becoming net zero emission nation by 2050, Sri Lanka has been limping towards such targets until the power crisis unravelled as early as in February. 

Now Sri Lankans are facing daily power cuts for the fifth consecutive month with lifestyles being severely disrupted and businesses scrambling to maintain seamless operations.
There are also allegations levelled against the bureaucracy at the Ceylon Electricity Board for delaying private sector renewable energy projects for their own gains, scuttling the country’s ambitions to achieve its non-conventional renewable energy targets. 

On April 7, 2021 Sunshine Energy (Pvt) Limited, a subsidiary of Sunshine Holdings, disposed its sub-subsidiary company, Waltrim Energy Ltd. Subsequently on September 9, 2021, another sub-subsidiary, Sky Solar (Private) Limited was disposed, as the group marked the exit from the renewable energy sector. 

Two weeks ago, Sri Lanka’s newly appointed Power Minister announced that he would take immediate steps to expedite the provisional approval process for renewable energy projects to overcome the power crisis at present and also prevent any future crises.