Help us build resilient communities in Sri Lanka

Let us introduce you to APSL-UK and Solar Village Project...

APSL-UK is a registered charity in the UK (Reg. No: 1145786). It works with Sri Lankan communities to promote peace provide aid for health, education, and economic upliftment. One core project of APSL-UK is the Solar Village initiative to promote sustainable development, reduce poverty, and provide practical solutions to mitigate climate change effects.

 

So what is the Solar Village Project all about?

The solar village project is to “empower” a selected community for their sustainable development and help reduce poverty using solar power as a clean energy source. APSL-UK believes the following two key actions to reduce poverty in rural disadvantaged communities.

(1) establish a method for wealth creation for the chosen community so that the revolving revenue can be used wisely for the development of the community, and

(2) introduce other sustainable and income-generating development projects within that community. Projects such as tree planting, beekeeping, organic farming etc., are encouraged to improve the environment.

 

These key actions are achievable through this project by bringing together village communities to work for their development.

 

 

 

Going back in time...

The Solar Village project grew out of a six-year Higher Education-Link (HE-Link) programme in the early 1990s. This initiative was funded by DFID-UK (now known as the FCDO) and administered by the British Council to facilitate professional mobility between two countries. Prof. I. M. Dharmadasa, former President of APSL-UK (2009–2011), a current member of the APSL-UK Executive Committee, and project lead for the Solar Village initiated and coordinated this link programme between his employer, Sheffield Hallam University, and several Sri Lankan Universities. This link's primary objective was to establish and collaborate on solar energy research in Sri Lankan Universities and promote the use of renewable energy in the country. As a result of this work, a national and regional network known as SAREP (South Asia Renewable Energy Programme) was formed, which continues to self-sustain these activities. These public engagement efforts resulted in the "Solar Asia" conference series and the "Solar Village" project.

 

Let us inspire you by what has been achieved so far in Sri Lanka!

Five Solar Villages have been established in Kaduruwewa, Nochchiya, Pulmudai, Puthiya Nagar, and Monaragala thus far. These five solar villages were made possible by individual contributions, corporate donations and two charitable organisations, APSL-UK and Hela Sarana. Following the keynote presentation on Solar Villages at Hela Sarana's 25th-anniversary celebrations in November 2021, two additional donors pledged to sponsor the sixth and seventh solar villages in Matara and Kurunegala districts, respectively.

 

 

 

 

How will your valuable donations help?

This project will benefit rural residents and catalyse poverty reduction through rural economic development. Most importantly, it empowers and encourages villagers towards self-sufficiency in terms of energy. Unfortunately, some of these marginalised rural households are doomed to perpetuate their poverty; without access to safe drinking water and information from the outside world, they are deprived of life opportunities. Water pumping, for example, is carried out in the targeted villages using imported and expensive diesel, which emits greenhouse gases. Donations assist in providing funds to replace diesel pumps with solar-powered water pumps to supply water to small scale farming (home gardening) within the village/s. It also provides clean drinking water, thereby saving a steady source of revenue for the community, all without purchasing expensive diesel and imported hydrocarbon. The village community manages these funds in an entirely transparent manner for development while also contributing to climate change mitigation by reducing carbon dioxide emissions.

 

 

 

 

Most importantly, let's find out who will benefit from this project!

APSL-UK will allocate funds to establish a Solar Village in areas where the need is dire and urgent. This project is aimed at rural communities that are disconnected from the national grid or cannot afford commercially available alternatives. APSL-UK and its local partners will conduct a needs assessment to determine the villagers' requirements and provide solutions with solar power. The primary beneficiary of the project is the selected community and helps the world reduce CO2 emissions.

 

We will put in every endeavour to ensure this project is sustainable.

The growing and revolving income generated from the sale of electricity to the National Grid using clean energy technology will support the development of the communities. These funds will provide “micro-credit loans” to the participating families and be used to develop the nursery, primary school, and library to enhance children's education. Additionally, depending on the people's geography, climate, and livelihood in the chosen village, other environmental projects such as tree planting, beekeeping, organic farming etc., will be implemented.

 

How we ensure transparency.

Right from inception, the empowered community will appoint a Village Development Committee (VDC) to manage the revolving revenue with complete transparency. The project can be modified according to the community's requirements, and APSL-UK will act as advisors to the project. The Solar Village project team at APSL-UK will keep close contact with the VDC and guide them to advance the whole community. The main aim of this project is to plant the “seed of the Solar Village”, and the VDC will organise activities to grow this into a large Solar Village.

 

 

 

 

Where will the project be implemented?

The Solar Village project is rapidly expanding; the project team led by Prof. I. M. Dharmadasa are now working to raise funds to expand the project to other villages in Sri Lanka.

Why donate towards the APSL-UK Solar Village Project?

1. By installing a 5 or 6 kW solar roof on an essential building within the village, it generates clean energy without CO2 emissions in the selected community. Therefore, this is a socially worthy project which contributes towards providing a sustainable solution towards global warming and the damaging effects of climate change, which also embeds 13 out of 17 UN-Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Generous donations will help in achieving the following three unique features.

 

2. Industrial solar energy promoters and Academics have designed this concept from the Universities of Peradeniya, Colombo, Moratuwa, Ruhuna and Kelaniya in Sri Lanka and Sheffield Hallam University in the United Kingdom. Solar Village Project has gone through a rigorous piloting-&-learning, replicating-&-learning process.

 

3. With the valuable leadership and expertise of Prof. I. M. Dharmadasa, the project team at APSL-UK will work closely with the VDC of the village and local partners from inception to completion of the Solar Village.

 

What is the urgency?

After the COP-26 conference in Scotland in November 2021, the society is urgently looking for practical projects such as Solar Villages for sustainable development, reduction of poverty, and mitigating climate change effects by reducing CO2 in the atmosphere. Each Solar Village will have around 750-1000 participants, and some of their energy needs are produced without CO2 emissions. As a community, we encourage them to plant trees in the community area to absorb CO2 from the atmosphere so that this process provides solutions to mitigate damaging climate change effects. The rapid expansion of this project will develop poor communities while creating a clean air atmosphere.

 

 

 

What is in the pipeline?

Donors have come forward to complete the 6th and 7th solar villages. As more donations come through, the projects will start in different parts of the country to provide wide publicity.

 

We hope that donors and partners recognise the impact and value of the Solar Village Project and wide replication to develop every corner of Sri Lanka. This will be a unique example for other developing countries around the globe and we want you to be part of this journey.

 

How do we manage funds and new Solar Village projects?

APSL-UK Solar Village Team, led by Prof. I. M. Dharmadasa, the project's initiator, will manage these projects. He is one of the founding members of APSL-UK in 2004, its President during 2009-2011, and now serving in the executive committee as a senior member. For new projects, the APSL-UK solar village team collects and directs funds via the well-established financial management system within APSL-UK. APSL-UK solar village team allocates one or two executive committee members to coordinate each project and manage afterwards. These members are responsible for communication with the respective VDCs and producing promotional materials for wider publicity.

 

What is the current cost of a typical solar village?

A typical solar village starting from a 5 kW solar roof costs about £5000. This is the total cost covering Solar panels + DC to AC Inverter + Associated electronics + Travel & labour costs of installation. We aim to keep this fund-raising scheme open and start a new project when funding is adequate to replicate this existing model at a strategically selected location.

 

 

 

Links to some previous press coverage

There are numerous articles written on this project, and some of these can be found in the APSL-UK website (www.apsl.org.uk) for more details.

 

1. Numerous articles, newsletters, renewable energy handbook, posters, TV interviews and videos at: https://dharmesblog.wordpress.com/

 

2. Monaragala Solar Village article at: https://dharmesblog.files.wordpress.com/2022/02/monaragala-solar-village-write-up-1-ld-002.pdf

 

3. Transforming lives of people using Solar Villages at: https://dharmesblog.files.wordpress.com/2021/09/transforming-lives-using-solar-villages-revision2.pdf

 

4. Main steps of establishing a Solar Village at: https://dharmesblog.files.wordpress.com/2022/02/main-steps-to-establish-a-solar-village-project.pdf

 

5. Performance of solar roofs in Sri Lanka at: https://dharmesblog.files.wordpress.com/2021/10/performance-of-solar-roofs-in-sri-lanka-2.pdf

 

6. Next Generation Multilayer Graded Bandgap Solar Cells, A.A. Ojo, W.M. Cranton and I.M. Dharmadasa, Monogragh published by Springer, August (2018). ISBN 978-3-319-96666-3.

 

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ’s)

·        What is the full cost to set up a Solar Village in Sri Lanka?

Our current model uses a 5 kW solar roof under NET-PLUS scheme to create a continuing income for the selected community. The total cost of this system in Sri Lanka today is ~Rs 1,200,000 (~5000). This covers Solar panels + DC to AC Inverter + Associated electronics + Travel & labour costs of installation.

·        How many years will it be, before the initial cost is recovered?

The simple financial payback period of a solar roof in Sri Lanka varies in the range 3.5 – 6.0 years depending on several factors. The power outputs produced by the solar roofs depend on several external and internal factors. The direction of the roof, angle installed, shading effects and climatic conditions of the area are some of the external factors. The internal factors like properties of solar panels and components used are also contribute to the outputs depending on the manufacturer. For more details, see reference [5] above.

·        What are the likely maintenance issues (e.g. cleaning the panels with water - how often etc)?

There are no moving parts involved in a solar roof, and hence the wear & tear and maintenance is minimum. The only issue is the gradual reduction of the power due to settling down of dust, leaves and bird drops on top of the solar panels. Rain will naturally wash some of these away, but stubborn materials can be washed off using a soap solution and a hose pipe. The top surface is a thick glass plate; hence it can be cleaned as necessary. Frequency of cleaning depends on the surrounding environment. For example, in a dusty environment cleaning may need more frequently, but in a clean environment cleaning may not necessary for 4-5 years.

·        Cost of maintenance? 

Cost of maintenance is nil/zero other than routine cleaning of the solar panels. The guarantee for the DC to AC Inverter is only 10 years, mainly due to failure of electronic components used in these.  The 5 kW single phase inverter would cost around Rs. 375,000 (~£1,690).

Although the manufacturers’ guarantees are given for solar panels and the inverter, there is no insurance cover for the whole system at present. Therefore, project initiators encourage and advice the VDC to put aside some savings for future use. For example, in the pilot solar village, the DC water pump, with moving parts needed replacement after eight years of working. At that point the VDC had adequate funds saved to replace the water pump and upgrade the system to cater for increased customers.

·        How do the solar panels work? and how long will the solar panels last?

Sunlight consists of ~48% light (UV and Visible) and ~52% heat energy (Infra-Red radiation). The individual cells in a solar panel consist of rectifying junctions like p-n or p-i-n diodes, with strong internal electric fields. These diodes absorb light photons with energy greater than the bandgap of the semiconductor used, create charge carriers (electron-hole pairs), separate them before they recombine and send to the external circuit as a direct current (DC). To harvest the whole solar spectrum (both light & heat (IR)), graded bandgap multi-layer solar cells are under intense research at present [6].

Companies provide silicon based solar panels exist in the market today with a 20-year guarantee, but these can work beyond 30 years. 

Can additional units be added to increase the capacity?

This is possible but depends on the capacity of the inverter used in the system. If the anticipated increase of capacity exceeds the limit of the installed inverter, a new inverter with higher capacity must be used.

This is when “String inverters” (all power produced from solar panels pass through this inverter) are used. New solar panels are produced with “micro-inverters” (small capacity inverter for individual solar panel). If these solar panels are used, capacity can be increased simply by increasing solar panels.

·        Current Sri Lanka Government Regulations?

According to the Soorya Bala Sangramaya (battle for solar energy) programme, a solar roof can be connected to the national grid using three established methods, according to consumers preference.

(a)  Net-Metering:  Consumers have option to consume energy produced and feed the excess energy to the national grid for future use. 

(b)  Net-Accounting:  Consumers have option to consume energy produced and sell the excess energy to the national grid and receive an income from CEB (Ceylon Electricity Board).

(c)   Net-Plus:  The total energy produced by the solar roof is fed to the national grid, and a regular payment is received for the whole amount from CEB. During the first 7 years, CEB pays Rs22 per unit (1 kWh), and next 13 years, payment will be Rs15 per unit.

For the Solar Village programme, we use “Net-Plus” scheme as a preferred first income generation step.