Power cuts: how can you cut the CEB?
Many towns are subjected to power cuts. Offgrid renewable energy has always been my aim from the days I spent on holiday in the island of Crete (Greece) in 1992 where solar energy was in wide use.
I have installed off-grid solar electricity paraphernalia which will yield me around 300 units of electricity per month (2.5kw). The installation was done by a well-known green energy power company whose name I can give in private to any inquirer. This amount of electricity is quite sufficient to cover all my current needs including allnight ACs and all-night garden lights.
In terms of hardware I have gotten solar panels on my kitchen roof, 24 batteries and two automated Inverters in my kitchen and cables to connect the panels to Inverters and batteries and to the (CEB) grid's mains. It is all hands-off except every six months or so I will have to refill the batteries with distilled water as we do to our car batteries.
The down-side? At the moment it is rather an expensive investment. This is mainly due to the fact of very high taxes on all the equipment used and almost all of them are imported. Given the energy crisis we are enduring at this moment and the deleterious effects on our economy, the government should encourage all those who can afford it to tap the solar energy which is freely available in plenty by abolishing the taxes imposed on the relevant equipment in this industry.
Given the dire forecasts of expensive petroleum/coal resource depletion, cataclysmic climatic changes leading to long-drawn-out droughts, possible turmoil in the Middle-east the financial and the labour/workmen problems of the CEB, it is in the interest of all to turn to sustainable energy solutions.
As far as I can see our government appears to be uninterested in helping even those who want to help themselves. As usual our stupid politicians will attain enlightenment only when our reservoirs run dry. Till then they will profligately squander resources building follies that do not benefit the Sri Lankans at large.
Negornbo