As discussed earlier a minimum of 450 000 ha of land need to be set aside for homesteads during the next 25 years to meet the population growth until it stabilizes. This results in a drop of maximum land availability for energy plantations to 1.2 million hectares. In addition, increasing economic activities including expansion of the agricultural sector and restricted water availability for plantation establish­ment make it necessary to exclude a considerable extent of land out of what is
identified as the maximum available land area for energy plantations. Only then can one estimate the actual availability of fuelwood for possible biomass-based electricity generation in Sri Lanka.