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| Sunday, 1 February 2004 |
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National policy on solar power urged by Hiran H. Senewiratne The Solar Industries Association (SIA) is calling for a national policy on solar energy to effectively harness its potential as a solution to the country's energy crisis. Solar power is the world's fastest growing energy source, growing at a rate of 40 per cent, said SIA President, Pradip Jayawardena. "Sri Lanka is a global leader in providing solar power to the masses on a per capita basis," Jayawardena told a recent media briefing. He described his aim as providing electricity to 100 per cent of the country, which is undoubtedly possible, since our country is blessed with year-round sunshine. Jayawardena said the main problems encountered by this sector are lack of awareness and the absence of a national policy to increase usage. "We have been discussing with the Ministry of Power and Energy to draft a national policy for this sector, but we have not received a response yet," said Jayawardena. He recommends credit to the end user from banks to promote this concept. He said the need of the hour is to encourage poor households to use solar power. This will be the best alternative for the country's energy crisis. Solar energy is growing 10 times faster than the oil industry. It has been predicted that solar energy will join computers and telecommunications as a leading growth industry in the 21st century. He said that solar energy could provide electricity to about 2.4 billion or about 40 per cent of the world's population living without electricity. In developing countries, this is as high as 70 per cent. The Government-funded Renewable Energy for Rural Economic Development (RERED) programme will bear the capital cost on behalf of the end user, which is the most encouraging factor, Jayawardena added. Head of the Administrative unit of the RERED, Jayantha Nagendran said the objective of this programme is to promote the use of electricity for low income households. He said popularising television sets using solar energy is the driving force to promote this at the grass root level. He said that RERED has a five-year plan to provide electricity for 100,000 households and 1,000 small and medium-sized enterprises including a world class solar system laboratory affiliated to the NERD. The International Development Authority, which had granted US$ 83 million, and the Global Environment Facility (eight million US dollars) are funding the project. Currently the local industry is vibrant, with more than 40,000 installed systems and sales reaching 20,000 systems or one MW per year. Participating credit institutions for the programme are DFCC Bank, National Development Bank, Sanasa Development Bank, Commercial Bank, Hatton National Bank, Sampath Bank, Seylan Bank, Ceylinco Leasing and Sarvodaya. The SIA currently has a membership of seven solar companies -Shell Solar, Access Solar, Alpha Solar, E.B. Creasy and Company, Softlogic Solar, Solar Dynamics and Selco Solar - and one credit provider, Sarvodaya Economic Enterprise Development Services. The SIA was funded with assistance from the Energy Services Delivery project of the government. Its activities include conducting technical training courses, coordinating with the government on subsidy programmes and representing the interests of the industry with donor agencies. |
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