"We faced a power crisis recently. We see such instances as an opportunity realise our mistakes, to improve and take speedy measures necessary for the future," he said.

The deputy minister was speaking at the launch of the 'The Green Energy Champion Sri Lanka' initiative, earlier today.

The campaign was launched by the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs together with The Ministry of Power and Renewable Energy of Sri Lanka and the project implementing partner Deutsche Gesellschaft fur lnternationale Zusammenarbeit (GlZ) GmbH.

The initiative is a country-wide competition identifying and recognizing innovative ideas on improving energy efficiency and encouraging the use of renewable energy in Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka Sustainable Energy Authority and The Sri Lanka Energy Managers Association (SLEMA) join the initiative as supporting partners.

In addition to the minister, German Ambassador to Sri Lanka and the Maldives - Dr. Jurgen Morhard also attended the event as guest of honour.

Energy taken for granted

Speaking, ambassador Morhard said, "Transforming the way we generate and consume electricity is an essential step to mitigate or even stop climate change. Consequently. it will be a step to safeguard the natural beauty of Sri Lanka. The Green Energy Champion Sri Lanka campaign will raise the awareness of energy conservation and it will hopefully trigger people to come up with innovative renewable energy ideas for their communities."

"Everybody takes energy for granted... Nobody wants to see the underlying effects...Nobody wants to pay more for it...Nobody wants to be associated with the problems behind it.. Everybody is complaining when it's not coming," Dr. Morhard said.

The ambassador commended the Sri Lankan government as most of the country, including most of the resettlement areas are hooked up to the grid.

However, he emphasised on the importance of having an energy mix without being dependent of one source of energy.

The project

The project aims to conduct a country-wide campaign in order to raise public awareness of energy conservation and to boost energy innovation in Sri Lanka. Part of the campaign is a competition which seeks to identify a blueprint “Green Energy Champion“ who would become a show case for sustainable and clean energy solutions.

The winning entry would be entitled to EUR 30.000 (ca. 4.7 Mio LKR) and technical expertise for the implementation of the awarded project proposal.

The briefing also saw the launch of www.greenenergychampion.lk, a web site dedicated to the campaign and a medium for the public to gain access to the application form, tips how to save energy at home and other valuable information on the subject of renewable energy. The campaign's Facebook page was also launched.