Sri Lanka to install 7,000 rural solar plants
Posted on March 30th, 2021
Courtesy Prensa Latina
Colombo, Mar 30 (Prensa Latina) Sri Lanka will install seven thousand rural solar plants in an equal number of villages within the framework of a program under the name ‘Electricity for All’, according to the press.
The Minister of State for the Development of Solar, Wind and Power Grid Generation Projects, Duminda Dissanayake, explained to the Daily News newspaper the new trends in the field of renewable energy development in the country.
750 megawatts (MW) are intended to be added to the national grid from these emerging facilities, the source said.
Referring to the Electricity for All program, Dissanayake said that there are around 99,675 homes without electricity and they expect to provide the service to the 33,360 families most in need.
He also pointed out that a program to supply rooftop solar panels to 100,000 beneficiary families is under way.
March 31st, 2021 at 6:55 am
This looks like the solar panels on my building in Kandy,DS Sananayake veedya.
I got them down from London but having problems with the monkeys who are damaging the roof and there was a leak into my building a few days ago.
Monkeys and wild boar are creating havoc in the plantation, they even come to our bed room in Kandy and runaway with our articles on table and they are bold enough to run away with fruits while the guests are there. Government must cull them in a humanly fashion.
With respect to solar panels, let every householder have solar panels in their premises, funded by low interest lending scheme. They could collectively feed the grid using one invertor. To make it simple, government must pay a fixed amount per each panel as their income. This is an expanding industry where every householder in future could charge the future eclectic vehicles, just outside their homes, thus giving them an income.
I helped a couple of poor families with a few panels to electrify their homes, in one case the husband stole one or two panels to pay for his alcohol addition. I another case two panels were stolen in the night.
When all the house holders have fed the national grid during the day,the government must use the excess electricity that should be used to pump water from a river to a reservoir at a considerable height from the river level and this water from the reservoir could be used to generate electricity to the grid at night.
We could ask the Chinese or Germans to set up two solar panel manufacturing plants in two different parts of the island.Definitly must give the Germans to import the invertors which seems to be the best going.
March 31st, 2021 at 8:37 am
After watching some youtube videos on this subject I thought of making few panels for my use as a trial. I had the skilled staff and even compared the cost of imported ones. I found that if we make them locally the cost would be less than the imported ones from China. Then the Corona came even the office is closed down. It seems the Germans have the best technology and the Chines have the cheapest production costs. But none of these countries will help us to get out of the trap we are in.
I even contacted one German office here in Colombo they have set up for technical cooperation through the Ministry of Finance. The secretary was kind enough to reply directing me to that office. The head of the unit, one lady by the name Christina (who sounded an East European) promised me many moons ago she would get back to me on this matter, but has not done so up to now.
It looks as if all these people are mere NGOs who have descended here for other purposes.
If there is a will there is a way. The option Nimal given above is the best. Another way is to get organizations like State Engineering Corporation or the Railway Department which have workshops to try and make a start. SEC can even pre fabricate the supporting structures in concrete to mount the panels as the roofs in the villages are not strong enough to support them.
The relevant ministers instead of having meetings all the time with government officials, some of them should be given specific tasks on this type of activity and show results.
March 31st, 2021 at 8:46 am
Some of these unemployed graduate can be recruited for this program and trained on the subject. They could be paid on the basis of production.
March 31st, 2021 at 11:37 am
We could make all the roofs of the villages out of concrete, bit costly but it will live through the sever storms that will occur due to global warming. Also it will prevent monkeys pulling them out. Germany makes the best invertors.
Government should not waste tax payer money on worthless projects and think of investing in solar.
My memory is playing hell. There is a compound abundantly available in Indonesia(perhaps bauxite? We could import this and take the aluminium out. It takes the DC currant to split the compound and manufacture aluminium. My daughter in-law is from Indonesia and our investments are very discreet there because she is a Chinese and there will be another uprising against the hard working Chinese one day and I fear the same for my family business in Malaysia where my wife is half Malaysian Chinese and half Japanese. Besides I am getting old…I would like to use the solar power to generate the DC current to produce aluminium in Indonesia but very scared of the future there with the strong influences of the middle East lot and I am getting old..