Two more floating solar power projects

March 6, 2024 at 9:55 AM

The proposal to provide relevant plots of land and water surface for the commencement of two floating solar power generation pilot projects of 1 MW capacity each on the Chandrika Wewa Reservoir and Kiriiban Wewa Reservoir has received Cabinet approval.

According to the minutes signed between the Korean government’s Korea Institute for Advancement of Technology and the Ministry of Power and Energy in Sri Lanka, two (02) floating solar power generation pilot projects with a capacity of 1 MW each have been decided to be implemented on the surfaces of the Chandrika Wewa Reservoir and Kiriibban wewa Reservoir. 

For the two projects, a request has been made to provide 0.99 hectares each on the water surface of the Chandrika Wewa Reservoir located in the Embilipitiya Divisional Secretariat Area and the water surface of the Kiriibban Wewa Reservoir located in Sewanagala Divisional Secretariat Area, along with plots of 0.1 hectares each from the reservoir reserves for activities such as construction of power plants and transmission stations, training of maintenance workers and maintenance of solar panels. 

The government points out that the implementation of the proposed projects will add about 3 Gigawatt hours of annual electricity generation to the national grid. 

Accordingly, the Cabinet has approved the proposal made by the Minister of Irrigation to provide the above-mentioned reservoir surface parts and land plots to the Sri Lanka Solar Energy Authority on an annual lease basis for running the two solar pilot projects. (NewsWire)