Sri Lanka Achieves Major Milestone in its Journey to 1 GW Installed Solar Capacity by 2025

SEATTLE (Oil Monster): Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Power and Renewable Energy has announced that the country has reached an important milestone of 100 MW of installed solar capacity. The country aims to surpass 1 giga-watt (GW) of solar power by 2025.

According to the Ministry, the ‘Battle for Solar Energy’ initiative launched in September last year has played a significant role in helping the country the all important milestone. The program which promotes deployment of solar rooftops in nearly one million households across the country is currently run by the Ministry in collaboration with the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) and Sri Lanka Sustainable Energy Authority (SEA). It targets to double the installed capacity to 200 MW by 2020.

Recently the country had issued Request for Proposals (RPFs) for implementing the second stage of the ‘Battle for Solar Energy’ programme, through tender of 90 small-scale solar projects of 1MW each. As part of the operation, rooftop solar panels will be offered at concessional rates to households, religious institutions and commercial establishments. In October 2017, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) had committed a loan of $50 million to fund installation of 50 MW of rooftop solar projects.

Earlier in May this year, the Sri Lankan authorities had granted approval to build 1040 MW hybrid renewable energy park in Punarin area comprising of 240 MW of wind and 800 MW of solar power. This is in line with the government’s resolve to add considerable amount of electricity to national grid from renewable energy sources. The construction is expected to be carried out in three phases over a period of two years. Upon completion, the project is expected to generate 1800 Gwh of electricity.