The 152nd birth anniversary of D.J. Wimalasurendra, the pioneering engineer credited with introducing hydropower generation to Sri Lanka, is being commemorated today (17).
A series of programmes organised by the Wimalasurendra Hydropower Station Employees’ Welfare Association were held to mark the occasion. Following religious observances, floral tributes were paid to his statue located opposite the Wimalasurendra Reservoir in Nortonbridge.
The event was held under the patronage of Indika Karuppu, Deputy General Manager of the Laxapana Hydropower Complex.
A tree-planting programme was also organised on an island in the Castlereigh Reservoir.
At a time when electricity for Colombo’s tramways and street lighting was being generated by a small thermal power station in Pettah in 1895, Wimalasurendra recognised that generating electricity from water would be more economical than using petroleum. He subsequently pioneered the utilisation of water resources in Sri Lanka’s central highlands for power generation.
After further studies at the Faraday Institution in Britain in 1912, he initiated the construction of Sri Lanka’s first commercially operated small-scale hydropower plant at Blackpool, Nuwara Eliya.
He later played a pioneering role in reviving the Laxapana Hydropower Scheme, which had been suspended. Work on the project recommenced in 1938 and was successfully completed in 1950.
Wimalasurendra also first proposed the establishment of a central electricity authority for Sri Lanka in 1933.
