The high-level meeting took place in Colombo with IMF Resident Representative Dr. Martha Tesfaye Woldemichael, where the opposition leader detailed critical disruptions to green energy projects across the island nation.
Highlighting the economic fallout of current policy shifts, Premadasa stated that rooftop solar installations alone could contribute 2,500 MW to the national grid and save the country approximately Rs 25 billion every month.
He urged the IMF to advise state authorities on the immediate deployment of battery energy storage systems alongside rooftop solar networks.
Such measures, he said, would safeguard a decentralised sector that provides affordable electricity to consumers while generating essential commercial opportunities for young skilled entrepreneurs and small business operators.
The Opposition Leader accused an entrenched fuel lobby of actively sabotaging sustainable energy initiatives to prolong national dependency on expensive fossil fuels.
He directed specific criticism toward government initiatives to operate combined cycle power plants under the Yugadanavi, Sobadhanavi, and Sahasdanavi schemes using a mix of liquefied natural gas and diesel without establishing floating storage regasification infrastructure.
Describing these plans as concessions to private fuel cartels at the public expense, he pledged that the parliamentary opposition would launch a sustained democratic movement to advance the national clean energy goal past the current 70 per cent target toward complete grid decarbonisation.
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