'Take the cue from India':

Use solar lighting for homes

Ramani Kangaraarachchi

A revolutionary change can be made in Sri Lanka by installing solar lighting in every house where there is no electricity, former Councillor, Sri Lanka Deputy High Commission in Chennai, Lakshman Jayawardena told Daily News Business.

Lakshman Jayawardena

Having had work experience in India, he said that a large number of people in India live in rural areas where energy supplied by the conventional system is unreliable. As such alternative energy sources are used to supply electricity in rural areas in India.

The Tamil Nadu Energy Development Agency has successfully implemented various pilot projects in the field of Wind Energy, Solar Energy and Bio Energy.

Solar Energy is often called Solar Electricity. Solar PhotoVoltaic (SPV) is the direct conversion of sunlight to electricity. It is an attractive alternative to conventional sources of electricity for many reasons, he said. It is silent, non polluting and renewable. It is extremely reliable and can be installed almost everywhere.

Steady and advancing technology and manufacturing over the past three decades have brought down the price of PV modules by nearly 200 fold.As a result of this price drop, the number of PV applications is multiplying rapidly. PV is cost effective even when other forms of electricity are available today he said.

Another Company in Bangalore, Selco Solar Light (Pvt) Ltd has installed solar lighting systems in over 65,000 rural households in Karnataka and Gujarat. This company has tied up with local banks to fund the solar energy systems for rural households and dwellers.

While Selco supplies the solar lighting system, the banks provide the finance and the loans are repayable in three to five years.