Solar energy industry keeps disruptions at bay

The Sri Lankan Solar Energy industry is grappling with the daunting task of keeping the power outages to a minimum in spite of not being paid for 13 months said, Solar Industries Association President, Asanka Tennakone at a press meet held in Colombo recently.

Payment due to the renewable energy industry is presently used for purchasing both Coal and Diesel supplies required to fuel the nation’s power plants. As 40% of the nations’ electricity demand is met by Coal and Oil without which the country could face upto 12hs of power cuts per day. An installed capacity in excess of 3 GW / day meets approximately 7.5% of the total energy requirement. Th  e value of the solar energy supplied valued at about Rs. 70 million offsets Rs. 300 million /day of Diesel power required to match the same, Tennakone said.

With the delay of 13 months of unsettled dues, the Solar Industry is facing severe hardships which may most likely develop into shutting down of these plants. While understanding that a large part of the funds is allocated on a priority basis for the purchases of Coal and Diesel however should not overlook the importance and the urgency of the Solar Industry Energy supplies dues being settled on a priority basis, said Solar Industries Association, Vice President, Kushan Jayasuriya. As the Solar Industry is unable to service its loans to the local banks, which are also under threat of collapse if this sector were to collapse and therefore the industry is being forced to absorb the additional interest of the CEB’s borrowings which are at 30% he said.

The country has the capacity of supplying 1/3 of its requirement of energy from hydroelectricity power which cost an amount Rs. 10/ unit, a strong effort must be taken to bridge the rest of the gap with renewable Energy and have a minimum dependency on costly Coal and Fuel generated power of which the stupendous cost is passed on to the consumers, Jayasuriya concluded