Soorya Bala Sangramaya (Battle for Solar Energy)
The Ministry of Power and Renewable Energy has launched a new community based power generation project titled ‘Soorya Bala Sangramaya’ (Battle for Solar Energy) in collaboration with Sri Lanka Sustainable Energy Authority (SLSEA), Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) and Lanka Electricity Company (Pvt) Ltd (LECO) to promote the setting up of small solar power plants on the rooftops of households, religious places, hotels, commercial establishments and industries. It is expected to add 200 MW of solar electricity to the national grid by 2020 and 1000 MW by 2025 through this intervention.
Under this program, any household or premises owner with valid electricity account (the consumers) will have options to generate and use electricity in their premises. In case of electricity in excess of their requirements, they can sell the excess to the national grid or bank for later usage. According to the electricity usage, the customer can select a preferred option from the following three schemes: Net Metering, Net Accounting and Net Plus.
ROOFTOP SOLAR POWER GENERATION SCHEMES:
1. Net Metering Scheme
Net metering is a billing mechanism that credits solar energy system owners for the electricity they add to the grid. This means the consumer has to pay only for the net amount of electricity consumed during a month. If the solar electricity supplied to the grid is more than the electricity consumption during a month, the balance amount can be carried forward to future as a credit, up to a maximum of ten years. No payment will be made for the excess electricity supplied over the consumption under this scheme.
2. Net Accounting Scheme
If the generated units of electricity using the solar panels fixed on houses/premises are greater than the amount consumed, the excess will be paid at the rate of Rs. 22.00 per unit during the first 07 years and from the 8th year onwards at the rate of Rs.15.50 per unit by the Utility Provider. If the consumption is greater than the generated units, the consumer has to pay at the existing electricity tariff for the excess electricity consumed.
3. Net Plus Scheme
This involves getting paid for the amount of electricity generated using the solar panels fixed on the premises. Unlike the net metering method there is no linkage between the electricity consumption of the customer and the electricity generation. Two separate meters will be installed to measure import and export of electricity separately. The customer has to pay for the electricity consumed according to the existing tariff whilst the Utility Provider will pay for the total amount of electricity, the customer generates.
Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka has taken the following steps to promote household solar power generation
- Legal permission has been granted to generate electricity for all consumers without a license to generate electricity (Official Notice of the announcement with regard to the license).
- Recommendations have been issued to accelerate the connection of domestic solar power plant to the national grid.
- Accordingly, CEB and LECO should connect the domestic solar power plant into the grid within two weeks from the date of application.