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Prof. Dr. Klaus Töpfer, Patron of atmosfair
"save the climate by going atmosfair"
Sri Lanka: Rural Electrification
| Total Savings: | 1.000 – 25.000 t CO2 per year, for 10 years | |
| Technology Transfer: | Gasifier based biomass conversion for rural electrification | |
| Local Environment: | Replacement of kerosene lighting and diesel generators | |
| Target Group: | Rural population in up to 400 villages | |
| Project Partner: | Aspira, Lanka Gasifiers, Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe | |
A quarter of the households in Sri Lanka are yet to be connected to the electricity grid. Such households generally use kerosene for their lighting needs or else diesel generators. In all, around a million families or five million people do not enjoy the benefits of electricity. Further, the grid electricity in Sri Lanka is generated primarily (nearly 70%) by thermal (fossil fuel) based means. According to estimates, by 2008, every dollar earned from the primary exports of tea, rubber and coconut will go to importing fossil fuels.
Wood gasifiers are ideal for small decentralised applications. atmosfair partners have developed a 12 kW- gasifier especially for the situation found in the target villages.
Six villages have already been equipped with wood gasifiers by Aspira and Lanka Gasifiers partnership working with rural entrepreneurs known as “Project Developers”. In every village, around 40 to 70 households are supplied with electricity. Every household receives 75 – 150 W of electricity for up to 12 hours per day, enough for lightning, radio/television and refrigerators or for operation of machines in small enterprises.
Aspira provides training on the growing of the biomass and training on the maintenance of the gasifier generator systems and certain other limited assistance, while Lanka Gasifiers manufactures and sells the gasifier generator systems.
A mix of financing sources obtained by the village societies that operate these systems – funds from World Bank and NGOs, equity, loans which will be paid back through power tariffs – assures the sustainability of the project: the local communities take over responsibility for maintenance because a significant portion of the financing is borne by them.
One objective of the project is to make the technology ready for commercial replication on a wider scale.
Application for CDM Gold Standard registration will be done if the project encompasses at least 50 villages.
In every village total reductions of 300t CO2 are expected over a period of 10 years.