Development of Solar Power – Prospective Economic Impacts for Sri Lanka

Introduction of non-conventional renewable energy resources for the national electricity system was initiated two decades back with the introduction of grid-connected small hydro power plants. As small hydro resources had a good potential, going for small hydro power plants was basically for harnessing the resource available in the country as a means of increasing the indigenous share in the energy mix. By that time, small hydro technology had been fully developed and also competitive with the other energy sources, thereby it was possible to make economic gains through the introduction of small hydro power plants to the country. It is commendable that a total small hydro capacity of nearly 400 MW has been added to the national electricity system by now, and it gives a good lesson for the country on appropriately introducing renewable energy sources for the benefit of the country primarily in economic terms.

In terms of resource availability, solar energy is the major renewable energy resource in the country. Sri Lanka, being a tropical country, has a large potential for development of solar energy. Obviously, even when the global solar energy potential is considered, it is observed that the amount of solar power available in the world is excessively larger than the global energy requirement. Nevertheless, solar power was not spoken as a potential renewable energy source for supplying electricity to the grid until recently for want of technology at competitive prices, where a breakthrough in the particular industry has happened in the last two decades. Even though technology for solar power generation is not new to the world, until 1970s when the global oil crisis occurred, solar electricity was used only for space applications. It was the only practically feasible technology for the particular task. It’s needless to mention that it was not a competitive technology, neither it was an affordable technology for the general power generation purposes at that time. In 1975, 1 Watt of solar PV was USD 76. It has tremendously reduced in the past periods, and in 2015 1 Watt of solar PV was US$ 0.3. Thus, solar PV technology has come to the forefront in the power generation field the world over. This has paved the way to open a huge market for solar power in the world, and at present it has a global market above USD 10 billion.

With the development of solar PV technology to avail with highly competitive prices, it has become a highly promising area under the national renewable energy development programmes implemented by the Government as a priority. With the Soorya Bala Sangramaya introduced by the Government in 2016, the solar power industry is being shifted towards a big move. It has given opportunity for local entrepreneurs to take to a new business venture benefitted to the country in diverse dimensions. More than 200 companies registered with Sri Lanka Sustainable Energy Authority as solar service providers are playing an active role in the solar power industry at present. It has created more than 5,000 direct and indirect jobs for the youth community allowing the strata of the working level community to be engaged in work contributing direct economic benefits to the country through technological value addition. Target of the Soorya Bala Sangramaya is to establish solar rooftop systems in one million households by 2025 with the addition of 1,000 MW to the electricity grid, and thus it will be a great economic boon for the country.

For the economic advancement of the country, Sri Lanka will need to develop the industrial and commercial sectors seriously taking the global context into account. Tourism industry, garment industry, etc. have taken major initiatives, and it necessitates that the novel modalities pertinent to these are to be chosen in order to revitalize the particular sectors targeting the modern international trends. In this context, going for solar power by these sectors will create value addition in production because most parts of the world such as the European countries are looking for green products. So, through greening our industrial and commercial sectors we will be able to create a good branding for the Sri Lankan products as environmentally benign green products. With the boosting of industrial economy, there will be further additional opportunity for solar in the technical dimension. Right now the country’s peak electricity demand is occurring at early night time, and it seems difficult to synchronize solar and the peak electricity demand. Industrial growth resulting in the increase of the day time electricity demand will avail an opportunity for supplying solar power to meet the particular demand occurring in day time appropriately matching for the demand thus created.  

Parallel to opening up of the industry as a widespread business venture and as the particular industry directly involves with technological advancements, diverse economic benefits through targeting skilled work force will be a key area to be seriously looked at. Knowledge creation, compliance and testing, promotion and marketing and also information technology, accounting, management, etc. will have high involvement with the growth of the particular industry. So, university graduates as well as technologists at different NVQ levels will have many opportunities in the solar industry. In addition to the direct impacts of this to the economy, it will provide a sound example for the entire community on productively engaging especially the school leavers in the economic development process of the country. In the international dialogues on labour and job opportunities, there is wide discussion on gender equity. Solar industry is an area where both the male and female youth can be developed simultaneously, whereby the country can go for an extra mile by way of introducing gender equity in employees in solar power industries. Sri Lanka Sustainable Energy Authority has already focused its attention in tailor-making training programmes in different aspects of solar power development addressing gender equity as well.

With the creation of a work force, which can cater to the industry demand at local level, the next step would be to open up opportunities overseas for the particular work force. In view of the fast developments of solar power in many parts of the world, it will be opportune for targeting to grasp the budding demand with appropriate plans and strategies at policy planning level. The great benefit that would support in social and broader economic aspects would be that the country can make use of the opportunity to shift the situation of supplying unskilled labour force to the outer world to a level of supplying skilled labour for a promising upcoming vast industrial field. Sri Lanka has good experience in serving in overseas in small hydro projects, where Sri Lanka has been able to show high professionalism in the field. If we as a nation make it a serious point to win the world through renewable energy, it will be the most appropriate path for the country’s economy to boost taking technology, knowledge, venture opportunity, skills, entrepreneurship, work force, natural resources, global environmental friendly supportive initiatives as opportunities, for the betterment and upliftment of the country.