Solar powered street lamps launch begins today

Disna Mudalige

The first step of introducing solar powered street lamps to main cities in the country is to be launched today in Nugegoda.

The Sustainable Energy Authority has planned to install 40 solar powered street lamps on the sides of the main road extending from the Nugegoda rail crossing to the flyover as the initial step.

The inauguration of the project will be held at at the Sathipola in Nugegoda at 6.30 pm with the participation of Environment and Renewable Energy Minister Susil Premajayantha parallel to the Environment Week.

The intention of this move is to cut down the cost of the CEB to light street lamps in main urban cities. The renewable energy sources add about 320 MW to the national grid. This is about seven percent of the total power generation of the country.

About 60 percent of the power has been generated by fossil fuel.

The government aims to increase the renewable energy contribution to the national grid up to 20 percent by 2020.