Sri Lanka hardly passes a day with very little sunlight and this makes the country an ideal place to generate solar power, an abundant resource Sri Lanka is gifted with. Commercial solar plantsAccording to the CEB, the first commercial solar power plants were commissioned in 2016 in Hambantota, with financial aid from Japan and Korea. Shih of George Mason University in the US and the University of Kaohsiung in Taiwan, the huge initial investment cost involved in solar power projects and the return on investments, which often range to 10+ years without government incentives, are major problems in adopting solar power systems. The high cost involved in solar power project commissioning results in units of solar power being pricier than power produced from fossil fuel sources. While the Budget 2021 proposals on solar power addresses main factors that are holding back solar power progression in Sri Lanka, the proposals have to be strictly implemented as many of the plans remain merely as “plans” without taking off.

Source: The Nation November 28, 2020 18:56 UTC