Solar power: Response to Dr. Tilak Siyambalapitiya

Appropos Dr Tilak Siyambalapitiya’s (TS) reply (ST March 01) to Prof. Wilfred Perera’s (WP)claim (ST Feb 14) that he was able to reduce his electricity bill from Rs 20,000 per month to Rs 100, implying that Prof WP will have no electricity at night time if he disconnects his main electricity supply from the grid, I venture to say that Prof WP can save that Rs 100.00 also and still have electricity even at night if he installs a storage capacity for the surplus electricity he generates through solar during the day, thus freeing himself completely from the CEB, if the Professor so desires. Of course he will have to incur an additional cost for that.

In the days when daily power cuts were a regular feature in the country, I installed a similar though small system at home which gave light to a few places such as the pantry, the washroom, dining area and master bedroom, when power was cut. The principle is the same.

It is to encourage consumers to turn to renewable energy, reducing the country’s dependence on oil and coal that the government offered to store in the grid the surplus electricity generated by consumers through solar and even pay for it, that this facility was extended to them.

Oil and coal are both imported at enormous cost which the country’s economy is unable to bear. This haemorrhage of the economy has gone on for decades without receiving the attention it deserves from our leaders.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksha’s policy to move away from oil and coal, replacing them steadily with renewable energy is highly commendable. Much can be done to resuscitate the economy by implementing this policy. All patriotic and national minded Sri Lankans should rise above partisan politics and support him in this endeavour. It is for our own good after all.

Brigadier Ranjan de Silva