Abstract:
It is important to have an uninterrupted, economical, and reliable electricity supply
contributing to economic and social development of a country. Due to the environmental
impacts of fossil fuel based conventional power generation, the world is moving towards
power generation from renewable sources like wind, solar, biomass etc. Solar is one of the fast
growing and economical renewable power generation source. The intention of development
of solar power generation is to promote clean energy while addressing the basic requirement
of uninterrupted and reliable electricity supply.
Going with world trend, the Government of Sri Lanka promotes the development of solar PV
based electricity through subsidies. Hence, the market graduated with many consumers willing
to install solar rooftop and they were ably supported by solar power service providers. On the
other hand, the utility is obliged to absorb the solar power generated as per the different
subsidized schemes available. The benefit for the utility is that the expensive oil-fired
generation during the daytime can be avoided, however in contrast, the utility needs to
maintain sufficient capacity to compensate the intermittent and non-dispatchable electricity
generation.
Extensive research had been carried out on technical challenges and opportunities due to the
technical constraints of solar power generation. However, only a limited number of studies
have been carried out examining the financial and economic impact of solar penetration to the
national grid of Sri Lanka.
One-year historical system dispatch data for year 2019 and rooftop solar generation data for a
period of 6 months of year 2019 considered for the analysis. The model compares the
financials of two scenarios to estimate the impact to the utility. The base case scenario, which
is business as usual with the already installed solar generation in the system. No solar
scenario, which assume there is no solar in the system and therefore the demand is met by
other available generation capacities in the system.
This research examines the two scenarios with careful calculations of how the system can still
run without solar in the system. Daily demand patterns were analyzed and then expanded to
months and summarized for the year. This research focuses the financial impact of solar
electricity penetration to the national grid and how everyone can still be beneficial.
Citation:
Kodikara, J.J, (2022). Financial implications of solar penetration for electricity generation in Sri Lanka [Master's theses, University of Moratuwa]. Institutional Repository University of Moratuwa. http://dl.lib.uom.lk/handle/123/21208