S.D.E Company Needs Governmental Support for the Implementation of its Sea Wave Power Project in Sri Lanka

TEL AVIV, Israel, March 16, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- The S.D.E Company has gone a long way in order to construct its sea wave power plants in Sri Lanka.

SDE and the Government of Sri Lanka have been in contact since 2006, when Mr. Ovadia, the managing director of the S.D.E Company, conducted several meetings in Israel with Hon. Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickramanayaka, Mr. Mahinda Bandusena (secretary to the Prime Minister), Mr. M M C Ferdinando (Secretary of the Ministry of Power & Energy) and Mr. G. Wijayasiri (Consultant to the prime minister). All have expressed their interest in and feel the need for the sea wave power projects in Sri Lanka.

Such need is especially caused by the fact that Sri Lanka's economy grew at a relatively rapid rate during the past few years - in the range of 7-8% a year- and that growth resulted in a correlated growth in the energy demand.

The island's population of 21.1 million requires large amounts of electricity; for example, in 2007, the per capita gross domestic product (GDP) in purchasing power parity (PPP) basis was US$ 4,265.

Due to this need, Mr. Ovadia visited Sri Lanka twice and decided to establish a company in Sri Lanka, under the name "S.D.E Sri Lanka Pvt".

The Company has submitted a project proposal to the Ceylon Electricity Board for their evaluation and obtained the technical evaluation approval from Ceylon's Power Purchasing Department. In the same time, "S.D.E Sri Lanka Pvt" also obtained a letter of intent to proceed towards the desired step of signing the Power Purchase Agreement, and received an approval from the Sri Lankan Board of Investment.

The last stage was to obtain the environmental approval from the Coast Conservation Department. "S.D.E Sri Lanka Pvt" had applied for such approval by presenting a detailed overview of the project to the Coast Conservation department Committee, Board of Investment staff and the Environmental Authority.

Unfortunately, since then S.D.E's sea wave power project had stopped its progress in Sri Lanka.

Recently, S.D.E's officials, Mr. Shmuel Ovadia and Ms. Inna Braverman, international marketing managers, have conducted several meetings with the Ambassador of Sri Lanka in Israel, Mr. W.M. Senevirathna. The Ambassador had also expressed his support for the project and mentioned the great shortage of electricity in Sri Lanka and the damages caused by this to the country's economy and population. Up to this date, however, the project is still not progressing.

As a result, S.D.E has begun to search for local partners in Sri Lanka, in the hope that such partners will be able to assist the progress of S.D.E's sea wave power projects in the island.

Officials from S.D.E mentioned that "It is both disappointing and surprising that a country in such a great need of electricity does not seem to ease the process of introducing new green energy production technologies to the country's energy market." This situation is opposed to other countries, in which S.D.E has already obtained long-term Power Purchase Agreements, and begun its construction works.

The technology of producing electricity from sea waves is innovative and a leading method worldwide. Pollution and global warming as a result of fuel usage have taught the world that the best resource to create electricity is the sea. The system has the highest efficiency in the world and is offered for a very attractive price. SDE has an international patent and also patents pending. To this day, the company has built 8 models that have been successful, the last of which has produced 40kW/h. The models were financed, checked, and approved by the Israeli Government.

    For further details please contact Ms. Inna Braverman,
    International Marketing Manager of S.D.E, or Mr. Shmuel Ovadia, CEO.
    Phone number: +972-3-7397107
    Fax Number: +972-6319239
    E-mail Address: [email protected]

SOURCE SDE Ltd