Sri Lanka promotes manufacturing / assembling solar panels
Sri Lanka is set to enter the field of manufacturing /assembling solar panels in a big way with foreign assistance, Finance Ministry sources said.
A proposal made by the Board of Investment (BOI) to promote investments in this field has received the approval of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Management (CCEM) recently.
In the budget 2018, solar panel manufacturing has been identified as one of the key priority sectors, a senior official of the Treasury told the Business Times.
This will have a significant impact on the economy in terms of export diversification, import replacement, technology transfer, value addition and employment generation, he pointed out.
The CCEM has given approval to the BOI to provide ground rent at a concessionary rate of US$1000 per annum /acre for renewable energy and related industries in the BOI for investors in the investment promotion zones other than Biyagama ,Katunayake and Seethawaka.
Solar panel assemblers/manufacturers should release a maximum of 50 per cent of the output to the local market subject to the payment of the standard corporate income tax rate of 28 per cent, he disclosed.
They would also be given a facility of duty free imports of raw material, he added.
The Government is expected to enter into MoUs with the University of Illinois and Sivanathan Laboratories Inc in the US for consultation and guidance on manufacturing of solar panels and to set up relevant research and training facilities in universities of Peradeniya, Jaffna, Ruhuna and Kelaniya
A group of around 2,000 youths including university undergraduates and postgraduates from science, technology and engineering streams, vocational training colleges, former military veterans, and GCE A/L qualified high school leavers will be provided with hands-on advanced training for research and development of solar cells, manufacturing solar panels, and installation and services of solar power generation systems.