The Ministry of Power and Renewable Energy has launched a new community based power generation project titled ‘Soorya Bala Sangramaya’ (Battle for Solar Energy) in collaboration with Sri Lanka Sustainable Energy Authority (SLSEA), Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) and Lanka Electricity Company (Private) Limited (LECO) to promote the setting up of small solar power plants on the rooftops of households, religious places, hotels, commercial establishments and industries. It is expected to add 200 MW of solar electricity to the national grid by 2020 and 1000 MW by 2025 through this intervention. Under this program, the consumers will have options to generate and use electricity in their premises. In case of electricity in excess of their requirements, they can sell the excess to the national grid or bank it for later use. According to the electricity usage the customer can select a preferred option from the following three schemes: Net Metering, Net Accounting and Micro Solar Power Producer.
This scheme which is exists at present allows any electricity consumer to install a renewable energy based electricity generating facility and connect it to the CEB/LECO’s electricity network. The electricity network connection scheme shall be approved by CEB/LECO.
This connection will be metered by an export/import energy meter which registers the export and import of the customer separately.
At the end of each billing period, CEB/LECO will read the consumer’s export energy meter reading and the import meter reading. The electricity bill will be prepared for the difference between the import and the export registers. If the export is more than the import in any billing period, the Consumer will receive an export credit, and will be brought forward his next month’s consumption. Such credits may be carried-over to subsequent months, as long as there is no change in the legal consumer for the premises.
The key factor in this process is that there will be no financial compensation for the excess energy exported by the consumer. All exports will be set-off against the consumer’s own consumption, either in the current billing period or future billing periods.
The installed capacity of the Generating Facility shall not exceed the Contract Demand of the Customer. The contract period for the scheme is 20 years. Unlike other two schemes this scheme is open for all renewable energy forms including Solar. Other schemes are only limited for Roof Top Solar schemes.
This Scheme has introduced an additional element to the Scheme 01 where export energy in any will be paid at an export tariff. As per the existing tariff , the customer will be paid Rs 22.00 per exported unit during the first 07 yrs and from the 08th year to 20th year he will be paid Rs 15.50 per export unit. If the consumption is greater than the energy generated from the solar panels, consumer will be issued a bill using the existing electricity tariff for the import. This Scheme is limited only for roof top solar power generation. Scheme limited to the installed capacity of the customer. The contract period is 20 yrs.
The customer connection proposal shall clearly indicate his expected generation capacity and the expected maximum generation units per months. Any units generated more than such agreed quantity will not be paid until the customer makes a request for increased capacity.
Total generation of electricity from the solar PV power plant will be metered through a dedicated export energy meter for which the customer will be paid. The energy import will be measured through a separate import energy meter.
The installed capacity of the Generating Facility shall not exceed the Contract Demand of the Customer. The contract period is 20 yrs.
The customer connection proposal shall clearly indicate his expected generation capacity and the expected maximum generation units per months. Any units generated more than such agreed quantity will not be paid until the customer makes a request for increased capacity.
The customer will be paid for his energy registered in the export meter at the export tariff and be charged for import using the normal customer tariff. The current export tariff is 22.00 Rs/kWh for the first 7 years and from the 8th year up to contract period of 20 years, Rs 15.50.