Information
Membership Number: FCA3518
Membership Type: Fellowship
Division: Engineering and Applied Sciences
Corresponding Email: ekanayakej@eng.pdn.ac.lk
Homepage(s): https://web2.ee.pdn.ac.lk/people/JanakaE
Present and Previous Positions
Senior Professor and Chair of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Department of
Electrical and Electronic Engineering, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka (since 2013)
Visiting Professor, Institute of Energy, Cardiff University, UK (since 2013)
External Examiner, Newcastle University in Singapore (March 2025 – Feb 2029)
Honorary Professor, University of Wollongong, Australia (Feb 2021 – Jan 2024)
Visiting Professor, Universiti Tenaga National, Malaysia (2018 - 2024)
Council Member, National Research Council of Sri Lanka, Jan 2025 to date
Fields of Scholarship and Research Interests
⮚ AI applications for Smart Grid and COVID
⮚ Agrivoltaics
⮚ Renewable energy generation and its integration and smart grid applications
Research Projects
Title of the Project: Agrivolatic based Community Energy Solutions for Sri Lanka’s Villages
Year: 01/05/2024 – 30/03/2025 (On-going)
Funding Body: HEFCW ODA Awards
Amount: £15,000
Role: Co-Investigator
Title of the Project: Integrated Energy Harvesting Solutions for Decarbonization Support
Year: 17/10/2022 – 16/10/2024
Funding Body: Universiti Tenaga Nasional
Amount: RM 200,000 (£34,000)
Role: Co-Investigator
Title of the Project: Artificial Intelligence framework for threat assessment and containment for COVID-19 and future epidemics while mitigating the socioeconomic impact to women, children, and underprivileged groups
Year: Feb 2021 – Aug 2023
Funding Body: International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Canada
Amount: CAD$ 737,846
Role: Principal Investigator
Title of the Project: Designing, Fabrication and Testing a Smart Distribution Transformer for Voltage Regulation and Frequency Support
Year: 01/01/2019 – 30/06/2023
Funding Body: World Bank Project on “Accelerating Higher Education Expansion and Development Operation (AHEAD)”
Amount: LKR 45,000,000 (£108,000)
Role: Principal Investigator
Title of the Project: Design and Implementation of Microenvironment Conditions for Tea and Ornamental Foliage Plants using Precision Agriculture Systems Powered by Solar Photovoltaics
Year: Jan 2023 – (On-going)
Funding Body: National Research Council, Sri Lanka
Amount: LKR 3,820,000 (£9,200)
Role: Co-Investigator
Title of the Project: An Integrated Application of the Dynamic Line Rating and the Solar PV Inverter Control to Enhance the Rooftop Solar PV Integration into Distribution Networks
Year: Jan 2022 – Aug 2024
Funding Body: National Science Foundation
Amount: LKR 2,475,000 (£6,000)
Role: Principal Investigator
Title of the Project: Design and Implementation of Microenvironment Conditions for Tea and Ornamental Foliage Plants using Precision Agriculture Systems Powered by Solar Photovoltaics
Year: 01/04/2022 – 01/08/2024
Funding Body: University Research Council, University of Peradeniya
Amount: LKR 2,460,000 (£6,000)
Role: Co-Investigator
Title of the Project: Coordinated Application of Dynamic Line Rating and Demand Side Management in Distribution Network
Year: 01/09/2022 – (On-going)
Funding Body: University of Sri Jayawardhanapura, Sri Lanka
Amount: LKR 3,870,000 (£9,300)
Role: Co-Investigator
Title of the Project: Development of a Novel Predictive-based Smart Distribution Management System (S-DMS) to Maximize the Rooftop PV Absorption Capacity of Last Mile Networks
Year: 28/12/2018 – 28/07/2021
Funding Body: National Science Foundation of Sri Lanka
Amount: LKR 2,183,289 (£5,250)
Role: Co-Investigator
Title of the Project: Non-Intrusive Load Monitoring for Flexible Demand Estimation and Management
Year: 01/08/2016 – 01/08/2018
Funding Body: National Science Foundation of Sri Lanka
Amount: LKR 1,423,364 (£3,500)
Role: Co-Investigator
Title of the Project: Security of Supply with the Large Scale Deployment of PV in Sri Lanka
Year: 01/03/2016 – 01/03/2018
Funding Body: Sustainable Energy Authority of Sri Lanka
Amount: LKR 4,641,000 (£11,100)
Role: Principal Investigator
Title of the Project: Energy Efficient Utilisation of PV through a DC Micro Grid
Year: 01/11/2015 – 01/11/2017
Funding Body: Sustainable Energy Authority of Sri Lanka
Amount: LKR 4,421,500 (£10,600)
Role: Principal Investigator
Title of the Project: Peer-to-Peer Smart Energy Distribution Networks
Year: 01/01/2015 – 31/12/2017
Funding Body: European Commission
Amount: £304,592
Role: Co-Investigator
Title of the Project: Dynamic Ratings of Power Distribution Lines
Year: 01/06/2014 – 30/05/2016
Funding Body: National Science Foundation of Sri Lanka
Amount: LKR 2,062,800 (£5,000)
Role: Principal Investigator
Title of the Project: The Investigation of the Use of Smart Transformer for a Dynamic Volt-Var Control (VVC)
Year: 01/01/2014 – 30/12/2015
Funding Body: International Research Centre, University of Peradeniya
Amount: LKR 2,250,000 (£5,000)
Role: Principal Investigator
Title of the Project: The Effects of Shading on a Fixed PV Panels and Possible Remedies to Minimise These Effects
Year: 01/01/2014 – 30/12/2014
Funding Body: University of Peradeniya
Amount: LKR 500,000 (£1,250)
Role: Principal Investigator
Title of the Project: Future Network Technologies (FLEXNET)
Year: 17/03/2008 – 30/03/2012
Funding Body: EPSRC, UK
Amount: £659,057
Role: Co-Investigator
Title of the Project: SUPERGEN Highly Distributed Power Systems Consortium (HDPS)
Year: 01/07/2009 – 30/06/2013
Funding Body: EPSRC, UK
Amount: £421,811
Role: Co-Investigator
Title of the Project: HUBNET
Year: 01/06/2011 – 31/05/2016
Funding Body: EPSRC, UK
Amount: £311,393
Role: Co-Investigator
Title of the Project: Transformation of the Top and Tail
Year: 01/10/2011 – 30/09/2015
Funding Body: EPSRC, UK
Amount: £382,107
Role: Co-Investigator
Title of the Project: Mobile Energy Resources in Grid Electricity (MERGE)
Year: 01/01/2010 – 31/12/2011
Funding Body: European Commission
Amount: £314,672
Role: Co-Investigator
Honors, Awards and Other Membership
FIEEE Fellow of the Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers (USA) Elevated to Fellow in 2017 with the citation “for contributions to education in renewable energy and smart grid.”
FIET Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology (UK)
FIESL Fellow of the Institution of Engineers, Sri Lanka (IESL)
FNAS(SL) Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences, Sri Lanka
CEng Chartered Engineer, Engineering Council, UK and Sri Lanka
FAAIA Fellow of the Asia-Pacific Artificial Intelligence Association
Fellow of the International Artificial Intelligence Industry Alliance
Member of the National Academy of Artificial Intelligence
Corporate Member of the Sri Lanka Energy Managers Association
Research Awards
Ranked among the world’s top 2% of scientists, as published by Stanford University and Elsevier BV.
Distinguished Artificial Intelligence Scholar Award, National Academy of Artificial Intelligence (NAAI), 2025.
Presidential Award for Scientific Research, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2016, 2017, 2019, and 2020.
Tier 4* Research Award, University of Peradeniya, 2021.
Most Outstanding Senior Researcher in the field of Technology/Science/Engineering/Architecture/Quantity Surveying/Information, CVCD Excellence Awards, 2018.
NSF Research Award for Scientific Excellence, 2018.
President's Research Bonus, awarded in June 2001 by the President of Sri Lanka (for 1999 research).
Paper Awards
Best Paper Award (Open Category), 5th International Conference on Advanced Research in Computing, Sri Lanka, 19–20 February 2025.
Two Outstanding Paper Awards, International Conference on Advancements in Computing, Sri Lanka, 12–13 December 2024.
Best and 2nd Best Paper Awards, IEEE 16th International Conference on Industrial and Information Systems (ICIIS), Sri Lanka, 9–11 December 2021.
1st Place and 3rd Place, Best Research Paper Award, Vidulka National Energy Symposium, 2019.
1st Place (Innovation Category), Vidulka National Energy Symposium, 2019.
1st and 2nd Place, Best Research Paper Award, Vidulka National Energy Symposium, 2017.
3rd Place, Best Research Paper Award, Vidulka National Energy Symposium, 2015.
Best Paper Award, University Research Sessions, University of Peradeniya, 1999.
Fellowships and Recognitions
IEEE PES Distinguished Lecturer, since 2015.
Commonwealth Fellowship, 2001–2002.
Research Fellow, Tyndall Center, UK (Sep 2001 – Oct 2002; Mar–Apr 2003).
Royal Society of UK Research Fellowship, June – September 1997.
Commonwealth Scholarship, October 1992 – December 1995.
Editorial and Reviewing Roles
Advisory Board Member, IET Journal of Renewable Power Generation, October 2022 – present.
Editorial Board Member, Springer Nature Scientific Reports, September 2021 – present.
Editorial Board Member, Green Technology, Resilience, and Sustainability, June 2021 – present.
Editorial Board Member, IET Journal of Renewable Power Generation, October 2015 – October 2022.
Editorial Board Member, MDPI Electronics, January 2022 – present.
Editorial Board Member, Wind Engineering, January 2014 – present.
Editorial Board Member, IEEE Transactions on Energy Conversion, January 2007 – 2017.
Editorial Board Member, Ceylon Journal of Science, June 2016 – 2018; 2022 – present.
Technical Paper Reviewer for IEEE Transactions on Power Systems, Power Delivery, Energy Conversion; IET Proceedings on Generation, Transmission and Distribution; IET Proceedings Renewable Energy; Power Systems Computation Conference (PSCC); Wind Energy Journal.
Selected Publications
https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=yqup6Q8AAAAJ&hl=en
Books (in English)
Nick Jenkins and Janaka Ekanayake, Renewable Energy Engineering, 2nd Edition, Cambridge University Press, 2024. ISBN: 9781009295765.
Janaka Ekanayake, Vladimir Terzija, Ajith Tennakoon, Athula Rajapakse, Protection of Modern Power Systems, Wiley, 2023. ISBN: 9781118817230.
Chengshan Wang, Jianzhong Wu, Janaka Ekanayake, Nick Jenkins, Smart Electricity Distribution Networks, CRC Press, 2017. ISBN: 9781482230550.
B.M. Weedy, B.J. Cory, N. Jenkins, J.B. Ekanayake, G. Strbac, Electric Power Systems, 5th Edition, Wiley, 2012. ISBN: 1118361091.
Janaka Ekanayake, Kithsiri Liyanage, Jianzhong Wu, Akihiko Yokoyama, Nick Jenkins, Smart Grid: Technology and Applications, Wiley, 2012. ISBN: 1119968682.
N. Jenkins, J.B. Ekanayake, G. Strbac, Distributed Generation, Institution of Engineering and Technology, 2010. ISBN: 0863419585.
Olimpo Anaya-Lara, Nick Jenkins, Janaka Ekanayake, Phill Cartwright, Mike Hughes, Wind Energy Generation: Modelling and Control, Wiley, 2009. ISBN: 9780470714331.
K.H. Sobrink, F. Schettler, K. Bergmann, R. Stober, N. Jenkins, J.B. Ekanayake, J.K. Pedersen, K.O.H. Pedersen, Z. Saad-Saoud, M.L. Lisboa, G. Strbac, Power Quality Improvements of Wind Farms, June 1998. ISBN: 87-90707-05-2.
Other Information
CORE Academy - Acceptance letter.pdf
