Sri Lanka is to sign a commercial agreement with India next week to build a 1000 MW coal power plant in Sampur, Trincomalee, a media release issued by the Ministry of Power and Energy said yesterday.

The coal power plant is a joint project of India and Sri Lanka. This will be the country's largest coal power plant and the total investment of the project is USD 500 million.

Government said yesterday said that an additional 500 mega watts will be added to the national grid within the next two years. Non conventional power generating sources will be utilized for this purpose. This will be done utilizing wind power Dendron and Bio gas projects.

Hemas Power, a subsidiary of Hemas Holdings PLC, announced an Initial Public Offering for 31.3 million ordinary shares which will be listed in the Colombo Stock Exchange hoping to raise between Rs. 532 million and Rs. 626 million to fund projects in non-conventional renewable energy generation.

The Western Provincial Council (WPC) is planning to use wind power to illuminate Colombo city in association with Concurrent (India) Infrastructure Ltd an Indian based private company, while there is another plan in the pipeline to use wind power for the streetlamps islandwide.

Sri Lanka Sustainable Energy Authority has decided to develop Renewable Energy resources and declare energy development areas to implement energy efficiency measures and conservation programs to promote energy security, reliability and cost effectiveness in energy delivery and information management. It has also decided to initiate National Energy Efficiency Award 2009 - 2010.

A high profile Indian delegation is due in Sri Lanka at the end of this month to strike the historic deal to begin the construction of Indo-Sri Lanka Electricity Interconnection project. Under this project the country will receive electricity of 500 mega watts (MW) initially.

Sri Lanka government yesterday said that India is likely to share its nuclear technology with Sri Lanka for power generation using thorium as the main source of energy.

The second oil crisis of 1979 had just ended when the Government of Sri Lanka decided in 1982 to place energy efficiency and demand management as the top priority, with the energy ministry functioning directly under the President.

Sri Lanka has been identified as the `Hot Spot of Solar Energy Applications at two European Union solar energy conferences in Paris and Milan, a world renowned Sri Lankan born Professor of Electronics Materials and Devices who has been actively researching on solar energy over the past three decades, said.

The German Cultural Centre in Colombo (Goethe- Institute), the Ruhuna University and Ambewela farms are joining together to construct an industrial level bio gas plant for the first time in Sri Lanka with the assistance of German scientists to generate electricity.