The Ministry of Finance and Mass Media in Sri Lanka has announced that it has entered into an agreement with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) wherein the bank will loan the country $50 million to help develop rooftop solar projects.

The goal of this program is to support government’s “Battle for Solar Power Programme” to achieve the target of installing solar projects worth 200 MW by 2020 and 1,000 MW by 2025.

Clean energy generation is expected be enhanced through the proposed project by increasing debt facilities and making funding more accessible to rooftop solar developers. ADB, through the rooftop solar power generation project will focus on boosting access to clean and reliable power to consumers in Sri Lanka.

The enterprise Sri Lanka subsidized loan scheme has introduced a Donor funded refinance loan scheme to make provisions for rooftop solar power generation project with the aegis of the ADB. Households and the entrepreneurs will be provided maximum credit facilities up to $45,000 at a lending rate of 8 percent per annum.

The Department of Development Finance of the Ministry of Finance and Mass Media in Sri Lanka, which is the implementing agency of the project, will coordinate with the selected banks and financial institutions to provide credit facilities to the customers to purchase rooftop solar panels from reliable suppliers who have registered under the Sustainable Energy Authority.

The Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) and Lanka Electricity Company Ltd (LECO) will support the project implementation by providing technical recommendations to the financial institutions regarding technical proposals of the applicants (customers) and reviewing and approving applications for connection of solar rooftop systems to the distribution network. In addition, customers will be benefited financially through one of the systems among net metering, net accounting or net plus as a result of connecting solar electricity generated by this project to the national grid.

In September 2017 Mercom reported on the news that ADB was looking to finance this project in Sri Lanka. The total investment cost of the project is $59.8 million of which $50 million will be provided by ADB. Equity contribution by customers for the subprojects will be $9.8 million.

Shaurya is a staff reporter at MercomIndia.com with experience working in the Indian solar energy industry for the past four years in various roles. Prior to joining Mercom, Shaurya worked with a renewable energy developer and a consulting company. Shaurya holds a Bachelors Degree in Business Management from Lancaster University in the United Kingdom.