Solar Self-Consumption systems for Sri Lanka
As a result of the recent energy crisis in Sri Lanka due to lack of fossil fuel for power generation, many electricity consumers have adopted solar systems with energy storage, mainly as a solution to overcome power cuts. Some have deployed Solar Self-Consumption (SSC) systems, even though the system cost is marginally higher than back-up only solutions. Are SSC systems effective in Sri Lanka?
A recently concluded pilot project of six installations in the country, in Colombo, Galle and Ampara has produced very interesting and encouraging statistics, which proves that SSC is the ideal solution for the energy crisis in Sri Lanka. The key advantage of SSC is that the system uses up to 80 per cent or more energy that is produced by the system for local consumption and only 20 per cent is drawn from the electricity grid. This reduces the burden on the grid and as a result, the country will be spending less foreign currency on fossil fuel imports that is currently needed for power generation.
In an example of how effective SSC in Sri Lanka, a SSC consumer who had been off the grid for 22 hours of the day, where the total energy demand from 19.00 till 17.00 the next day was provided by solar and battery storage. The grid was used for only two hours of the day, which is 83 per cent average self-consumption. In terms of financial benefit, the outcome was around 90 per cent which is quite impressive.
Several other consumers of the same pilot project have produced results from 15-17 hours per day on self-consumption with financial returns of around 80-85 per cent, which is also quite encouraging.
How can we use SSC to our advantage?
As explained before on several occasions, the SSC model will be a viable solution for Sri Lanka to combat energy crisis, especially to reduce or eliminate the use of fossil fuels to generate electricity. If a 5KW system is deployed on 500,000 houses (out of around 6 million), the total generation of 2000 MW of energy will be sufficient to handle the demand of the residential energy segment.
In comparison, it is impossible to deploy on-grid solar systems to generate such large amounts of energy, without a costly upgrade of our existing grid, which Sri Lanka may not be able to afford right now. Even if we could afford an upgrade, on-grid systems will have many other drawbacks such as loss of energy during power outages as well as no back-up power for the consumer when grid power is not available.
Way forward
The best option for Sri Lanka would be to deploy large scale SSC systems in the country, through a Public Private Partnership (PPP) where the government provides concessions such as duty waiver for Li-ion batteries and other necessary components. Also, the state should promote PPP initiatives by offering payment guarantee through the CEB and LECO for the investors, which is the biggest hurdle that potential investors are faced with.
(The writer is Managing Director, Innovative Smart Solutions (Pvt) Ltd which promotes renewable energy systems).
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