SRI LANKA: Solar Power Brings Light, and More, to Rural Homes

By Feizal Samath Reprint | | Print |

Feizal Samath

DAMBULLA, Sri Lanka, Aug 13 2001 (IPS) - For Osgolla Ratnajothi, a Buddhist monk in this north-central Sri Lankan village, his solar- power unit has meant much more than just light to brighten his austere home at night.

This alternative source of power has also helped him chase wild elephants away from attacking his home and those of his neighbours and their crops.

“I have a powerful light outside that scares the elephants away,” he says.

Ratnajothi is not the only villager hooked on solar power for a range of reasons. N G Punchi Banda, a rice and onion farmer, has more than 25 people crowding into his small, mud-splattered floor in the sitting room, intently watching cricket matches on a solar- powered black and white television set.

“When Sri Lanka plays I don’t go to the fields. I stay at home to watch the match,” he says, adding that solar power in his home was “serving its purpose.”

These are but two of the many homes in remote corners of Sri Lanka’s rural countryside, where electricity is still a luxury, that are gradually turning to solar power.

Dozens of solar panels have sprung up on roofs in this north- central region after solar power was introduced a couple of years ago.

The entry of solar power into Sri Lankan households has much to do with the collective energies of three entrepreneurs — Viren Perera, Lalith Gunaratne and Pradip Jayewardene — who ventured into the business as far back 1986.

But their pioneering efforts met many roadblocks. It was not until 1999, when the group sold their company to Anglo-Dutch oil multinational Shell, that things started burning brighter.

“We sold out to Shell and then a new company called Shell Renewables Lanka Limited was formed,” says Jayewardene, a grandson of former Sri Lankan President Junius Jayewardene. His expertise in renewable energy led to his invitation to become the managing director of the new company.

The firm’s sales figures since then reflect this change. Shell, which sold 300 solar-power units to rural households in 1999, sold 1,800 units in 2000. Its sales figures for this year are expected to be even higher. During the first half of 2001, for instance, some 2,200 solar-power units had been sold.

The company plans to sell 4,500 units in 2001 while “demand is constantly growing,” says Jayawardene.

It must be — given that close to 50 percent of Sri Lankan households in a population of 19 million do not have electricity. Indeed, they are unlikely to get it in the next decade due to the high cost of installation and the rising demand for power among current users.

According to government data, 47 percent of households — mostly-rural homes — do not have access to the state-owned Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) national grid.

The demand for electricity is rising by an average of eight percent per year while the present demand is expected to double by 2010, according to the Central Bank’s annual report for 2000.

With the country’s hydropower resources unable to meet the demand, dependence on thermal power has risen sharply to 35 percent of total power needs in 2000 from 20 percent in the 1990s.

Delays in launching a major coal power plant on the western coast due to protests from residents and environmentalists have also stalled CEB plans to increase energy resources.

Driving through rugged roads off Dambulla last week, Jayawardene explained that he believed the rural countryside was too vast and widespread for electricity. It was unlikely, he added, that residents would get power from the national grid for a long time.

“Installation of power lines is a costly exercise,” he says, turning the car into the home of Wickremasinghe Silva, a 48-year old farmer at Anakatawewa village, about five km off Dambulla.

Silva has a five-lights solar-power unit costing 35,000 rupees (nearly 400 U.S. dollars), but uses the tube lights sparingly. “For once my children can study with the help of a light,” he points out.

Like many who use solar power in the village, Silva pays for the unit every six months — when his rice harvest is ready for sale — and hopes to settle the loan in a couple of years.

The solar units, which come with panels, a battery, tube lights and wiring, are offered to residents at prices ranging from 26,000 rupees (290 U.S. dollars) for a three-lights system to 76,000 rupees (840 dollars) for 15-lights unit.

Sri Lanka’s few solar-power companies have also joined a World Bank project, under which the units are subsidised to users. Under the bank-assisted Energy Services Delivery (ESD) project, solar power has been recognised as a key way to meet the micro-level requirements of rural households.

The bank has set aside 5 million dollars for the promotion of solar home systems “via private companies”. It disburses funds to the local NGO SEEDS, which handles the financing and loan collection under the project.

Once the units are installed, SEEDS pays the solar companies and collects the money from users. Solar users make a small down payment, then pay once in six month for an average five-year loan. There have been few defaulters among the farmers so far.

Solar power recipients are normally middle-income farmers with an average monthly income of 5,000 rupees (55.77 dollars). “It is still too expensive for low-income farmers,” says Ajit Kumarasiri, manager of the Shell Solar Centre at Dambulla.

Due to the success of its cooperation with an NGO to push renewable energy in Sri Lanka, Shell is considering it as a model for similar projects in India, Indonesia and the Philippines.

For Buddhist monk Ratnajothi, the power unit is a boon to his village of 250 families. “With the help of these tube lights, we can chase away the elephants,” he says.

For Jayewardene, the 14-year long search for success in the solar power industry has finally paid off. “I learnt many things. I lost cash but I gained in experience and knowledge,” he adds.