Sri Lanka has decided to go ahead with an international tender to set up a 100MW floating solar plant on the Maduru Oya Reservoir in the eastern part on the island. The Cabinet of Ministers has approved the program for solar to cover around 4% of the reservoir, the equivalent of 202 hectares. This is the first step in a previously approved wider plan to set up floating PV plants on various dams and reservoirs, across Sri Lanka.
The proposal has been put forward jointly by president Maithripala Sirisena, as well as Susil Premajayantha, minister of science, technology and research, and Ranjith Siyambalapitiya, minister of power and renewable energy. As part of goals to generate 20% of the island’s electricity via renewables by 2020, the Cabinet had approved the implementation of a training programme for prototype manufacturing of solar panels last April.
The Cabinet has now also approved an extra LKR80 million (US$530,000) allocation to obtain the necessary equipment, chemicals and consumer goods for the training program. PV progress has been mut-ed in Sri Lanka, although PV Tech understands there is strong interest at a high level to carry out large-scale solar auctions – not just on reservoirs – with discussions ongoing.
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Floating solar plant in Sri Lanka
VATIS UPDATE Part
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