In a bid to address the issue of dry weather and its impact on power generation in Sri Lanka, the Commander of the Air Force, Air Marshal Kapila Jayampathy signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) today (23 January 2019) with the Secretary to the Ministry of Power, Energy and Business Development, Dr. BMS Batagoda with respect to the Cloud Seeding Project of Sri Lanka at Air Force Headquarters.

The process of rainmaking or artificial precipitation is one of artificially inducing precipitation through the use of catalysts that such as dry ice silver iodide and salt powder.  Depending on the composition of the clouds and their properties, this is done by using aircraft or rockets, and involve a number of steps:  “Triggering”, is the activation of the cloud formation; “Fattening”, is the promotion of cloud growth; “Moving” is the process of moving the cloud to a designated area; and “Attacking” to initiate rainfall from cloud.

Weather modification extends to dispersion of cloud into clear flight path, prevention of hail formation, and inducing rainfall from stratiform clouds onto a valley or any catchment areas. Seeding may be performed inside or outside a cloud or to the top or underneath any isolated cloud or cloud band.

At present, the reduction of water levels of the catchment areas compel the utilization of Thermal Energy, which needless to say, comes at a much higher cost and also contributes to adverse impacts on the environment.  Adopting effective methodologies to increase the rainfall and to harvest that water in order to utilize it for hydro-power generation can result in substantial savings to the national coffers, while also ensuring minimal harm to the environment.

The Minister of Power, Energy and Business Development, Hon. Ravi Karunanayake, State Minister of Power and Renewable Energy, Hon. A D Premadasa were present for the signing of the MOU.