Financial Times

Sri Lanka a global hot spot power
A Sri Lankan solar energy specialist based in the UK said in Colombo last week that Sri Lanka has been recognized - at the 19th European Conference on Solar Energy held in Paris in May - as the world's latest hot spot for the solar energy industry.

Professor I.M. Dharmadasa of the Sheffield Hallum University said there were a number of reasons why the Paris conference had selected Sri Lanka as a solar hotspot - solar power availability, tropical weather and Sri Lanka's sky rocketing conventional energy production costs.

In a brief interview with The Sunday Times FT, Prof Dharmadasa said that western energy giants are increasingly considering converting to solar due to heavy environmental problems being faced from the use of conventional energy forms.

Earlier he told a seminar in Colombo on "Development through Professionals and Professionalism" held at the Organization of Professional Associations Auditorium that a number of countries are now using portable solar refrigerators for small ice cream mobile units and to transport expensive medicine through deserts on the backs of camels, and even to recharge car batteries while they are stationary.

Prof. Dharmadasa along with local solar energy expert Pradeep Jayawardana represented Sri Lanka at the Paris meeting . He said the government wouldn't be able to provide electricity to the entire country from the national grid while the only option left was providing solar power in rural areas. Power and Energy Minister Susil Premajayanth, chief guest at the seminar, said the electrification rate in the country has risen from about 15% of the entire country in the late seventies to 65% now, covering about 3.4 million households mainly due to efficient and fast implementation of donor-assisted electrification schemes.

He said there are more than 35,000 solar home systems already installed in the country while over 140 village or small state hydro schemes supplied electricity to about another 5,000 houses. The minister said that the government has taken a decision to go ahead with the coal power plant at Norochcholai and hoped to accelerate its implementation in an effort to bring down the high cost of power generation within a short period of time.

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