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Abstract-In 1995 Sri Lanka produced 95% of the grid electrical energy needs from conventional hydro power plants. But today Sri Lanka's electricity generation sector is largely dominated by fossil fuel sources. Though the Sri Lanka's current carbon foot print is much less than the global average, rising energy demand has resulted in escalated greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The focus of this study is primarily on Non-Conventional Renewable Energy sector and the challenges that need to be overcome for a clean and sustainable energy future. The study took the form of three phases: primary data-gathering process through literature review, semi-structured interviews, followed by an expert panel discussion. Results show that, as small hydro power potentials have already been utilized, wind has come to the forefront as the most promising energy source. However, technical and infrastructural limitations have hindered the further development of not only wind, but also biomass and solar energy sources.

The key success factors of the rice supply chain are regarded as a potentially useful resource in structuring the performance of mud-to-mouth supply chain network. Improving the profitability of the farmer requires adoption of best operational practices for improving the performance of the sector throughout the supply chain. This study mainly focused on identifying the key success factors of the rice supply chain and the presence of those factors in the operational strategy. An exploratory survey was conducted in the Atharagallewa agriculture instructor division of the Polonnaruwa district in Sri Lanka. Randomly selected 50 farmers from a group of 380 and eight agriculture officers were used as the survey participants to identify the current performance and operational strategies in the rice production sector. Based on the statistical analysis of the rankings given by survey participants, key success factors related to mechanization, quality improvement and product development, knowledge and skill development, risk management and information availability of the rice supply chain were identified and were validated with experts' opinion. The analysis helped in developing a Rice Supply Chain Development Ladder (RSCDL). The RSCDL contained three states, namely Introduction, Improvement and Review/Standardization, and facilitated identification of AS-IS state (existing circumstances) of the rice supply chain for the selected study site. These states could differ from district to district, based on the constraints present. This development ladder can be used as an analytical framework to represent the current AS-IS states of the rice supply chain. The RSCDL model provided a structured framework to analyze the current level of operational practices in a high performance rice production area. This can be a useful benchmarking tool for the poorly performing rice growing area with similar environmental conditions.