India offers solar plant in Trincomalee
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi brought up the matter in his recent meeting with President Maithripala Sirisena in Goa, on the sidelines of the BRICS summit, highly-placed Indian government sources said.
In September, Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Power and Energy told the country’s Supreme Court that it had decided to drop the plan to build a coal power plant in Sampur, Trincomalee, due to “serious environmental concerns”.
The Sri Lankan government said it was instead considering options such as Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), solar and wind power.
Last month, President Sirisena unveiled Soorya Bala Sangramaya (Battle for Solar Energy), an initiative aimed at adding 220 MW of solar power to the island’s energy grid by 2020. The President said he hoped that the project would add 1,000 MW by 2025.
Renewables shift
Following Sri Lanka’s shift towards renewable sources, India has offered to build a solar power plant in Trincomalee.
The 900 MW, Chinese-built power plant in Norocholai, 140 km north of Colombo, helps the island meet its power demands. Following a recent breakdown in the facility, the government had imposed island-wide power cuts for a few days.
The island has a total installed power generation capacity of 4,050 MW, the Hindu reports.
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Please let the people know what is the cost per kWh of solar from the solar panels that were fixed in different parts of the country 2 years ago to select the best site for a 500 Mw solar project from the the amount of units generated by the solar panel for one year and the cost of the solar panel the cost per kWh could be computed in my opinion it may be several Hundreds of Rupees while a kWh from coal would cost Rs 5.50 as such you can guess why any politician wants to go for solar either ignorance or for some benefit but in the end we the people will suffer immensely
Hi, this is a rough estimate of the costs of SURYA BALA SANGRAMAYA
Cost of Surya Bala sangramaya, PART I : Burden to Sri Lanka’s economy:
Let’s say 2 kW per house hold
1 kW solar = Rs. 200,000/=
2 KW solar = Rs. 400,000/=
1 Million Houses = Rs. 400,000 * 1,000,000 = Rs. 400 Billion
Amount of capacity = 2 kW * 1,000,000 = 2000 MW
Our day demand = 2000 MW
Sure we can achieve this demand for the Period of 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM in a day assuming clouds won’t come in all 365 days.
Cost of Surya Bala sangramaya, PART II: Cost and the burden to CEB
Solar company sells a unit (kwh) to CEB at an amount of Rs. 22 /=
CEB sells this unit to the customers at a cost of Rs. 15/=, so the burden is Rs. 7/=
The plant factor, let’s assume it being 19%(This is the plant factor of newly built 10 MW solar plant at Hambantota and for the PV panels, it is under 19%)
If the targeted 2000MW turns to energy; = 2000 * 24*365*19% = 3,329 GWh
Sri Lanka needs about 12,000 GWh annually and even after having PV panels installed in 1 Million house holds, it only serves 25% of Energy demand.
Converting to electricity units = 3,329 * 1000,000
= 3,329,000,000
Total cost to CEB for buying these units = Rs. 22 * 3,329,000,000 = Rs. Million 73,238 (73 Billion)
Let’s calculate the burden at breakeven point at which CEB is selling the above 3,328 GWh units.
Total burden (Annual) = Rs. 7 * 3,329,000,000 = Rs. Million 23,303 (23 Billion)
I know that One Million won’t come in a hurry and let’s assume it will be completed after five years from now. Then we can derive the cost to CEB and burden for the first 7 years.
Total cost = Rs. 73 Billion * 7 = Rs. 511 Billion
Total Burden = Rs. 23 Billion * 7 = Rs. 161 Billion
Cost of Surya Bala sangramaya, PART III: Due to intermittency
This means, when a cloud comes, the picture changes. There is a possibility of losing 50% of from above 2000 MW in any minute. In order to avoid blackouts due the sudden change, we should have Diesel or LNG plant.
Since the government is not allowing CEB to develop the projects, the unsolicited proposals keep on coming. The unsolicited 400 MW LNG plant at Hambantota will cost about Rs. 150 Billion.
http://www.thesundayleader.lk/2016/11/06/dubious-us-1b-chinese-project-for-htota/
Roughly 1000 MW plant will cot around = Rs. 350 Billion
Energy Charges to CEB (Assuming the same price as solar; Rs. 22/=, Plant factor being 70%)
No. of Units = 1000 * 24* 365 * 0.7
= 6, 132 GWh
Energy Charges (Let’s forget about Capacity Charges) = Rs. 22 * 6,132* 1000,000
= Rs. 134 Billion
Energy Charges for Seven years (Let’s forget about Capacity Charges) = 7 * Rs. 134 Billion
= Rs. 938 Billion
Therefore, giving due recognition and waving off other costs of SURYA BALA SANGRAMAYA, the total cost for SEVEN years can be calculated adding all the above three parts.
TOTAL COST = Rs. (400 Billion + 511 Billion + 938 Billion)
= Rs. 1, 849 Billion
These are only rough estimates.
However, many are arguing these prices can be dealt with environmental friendly and generous Sri Lankan citizens who are willing to pay this amount. The arguments are then move to convince that shifting to solar will secure the energy in Sri Lanka. This fails when a cloud comes over your roof top, at the night, when it is raining etc..
IT MEANS YOU DON’T NEED A SECURITY WHEN THE MONEY IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE ON THE DESK.
selvaa962@yahoo.com