10 MW ground-mounted solar power plant

By Ifham Nizam

A 10 MW ground-mounted solar power plant was opened in Vavunathivu, Batticaloa, yesterday. This would add 20 GWh annually to the National Grid, Power and Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekera said.

Minister Wijesekera said it had been developed by WindForce PLC, Vidullanka PLC, and HiEnergy Services (Pvt) Limited.

He also said that it was the first agri-voltaic solar power plant in the country.

“The solar plant is equipped with 243 single-axis trackers, and with 18,676 solar photovoltaic (PV) modules. It consists of 47 inverters, four smart transformer stations, and an in-house developed supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system,” he said.

The solar panels provides20GWh of electricity to the national grid annually while reducing 15,000 carbon dioxide emissions, he added.

Minister Wijesekara has agreed to provide maximum facilities to industrialists of the country, through the power and energy sector.

He said so during a discussion with the Minister of Industries Ramesh Pathirana, at the Ministry of Power and Energy, on Monday.

The financial challenges, faced by the industrial sector due to the electricity tariff revision, had also been taken up, during the discussion.

The Ministry of Industries stated that the industrialists representing various sectors, presented the issues related to daily power cuts, electricity tariff revision and fuel issues to the Minister.