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| Wednesday, 21 January 2004 |
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Solar power - the way ahead for Lanka Solar power is the most suitable solution to the energy crisis in Sri Lanka and in particular rural electrification, President of the Solar Industries Association (SIA) of Sri Lanka Pradip Jayawardene told a press conference at the Hilton, Colombo yesterday. Outlining the importance the solar industry has assumed worldwide, Jayawardene said that solar energy was the world's fastest growing energy source which was growing at a rate of 40% per annum. "This is 10 times the rate of the oil industry and it has been predicted that solar energy will join computers and telecommunications as a leading growth industry in the 21st century". In fact the recent World Bank mission found that on a per capita basis, Sri Lanka is the global solar power leader. The annual turnover of the local solar industry is US $ 9.7 million and the total credit line extended by the World Bank through the government of Sri Lanka for providing solar power is US $ 83 million. Jayawardene said that solar energy was now widely recognised as the only source of electricity for about 2.4 billion or about 40% of the world's population living without electricity. "In the developing countries this is as high as 70%". With regard to the local solar industry, Jayewardene said that the Sri Lankan solar industry started as far back as 1986 with three Sri Lankan entrepreneurs," namely Lalith Gunaratne, Viren Perera and myself, who having discovered that 2.5 million homes in the country had no electricity, led us to set up a company to manufacture and market solar home systems, however even today more than two million homes remain un-electrified despite the many Government funded electrification program". Jayawardene said that in order to address this problem the Government had launched a program termed 'Renewable Energy for Rural Economic Development (RERED) which provides financial assistance to consumers who wish to purchase solar home systems (SHS). "The SHS is an environmentally friendly, silent, easily transported, expandable system which requires minimal servicing. The only fuel it requires is sunshine". Jayawardene said that the only disadvantage of this system was its high capital cost which has to be borne by the user. "However this problem has now been overcome by the Government funded RERED program. Jayawardene said the industry today is a vibrant, growing industry with more than 40,000 installed systems in the country, and sales reaching 20,000 systems or 1 megawatt per year. This market is currently serviced by nine solar companies, who constitute the members of the SIA and additionally Suryavahini Pvt Ltd and Hitech Solar, and six credit providers who provide loan and leasing schemes for rural customers, namely SEEDS, Ceylinco Leasing, Lanka Orix Leasing (LOLC), Lanka Orix Finance Company (LOFC), Sanasa Development Bank and the Bank of Ceylon. The industry has over 120 retail shops and approximately 1,700 persons employed. There has also been a reduction of prices over the last year by approximately 11%. The government has also provided a subsidy of Rs. 10,000 per customer in three low electrification provinces which reduces the cost to consumers, namely Uva, Sabaragamuwa and North and East. According to the SIA the ultimate goal of the industry is electricity access to 100% of the homes in Sri Lanka. The industry hopes to build on its present success by further increasing distribution and increased competition among finance providers. |
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