Jan 17, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s National Development Bank said it will use a 1.29 million US dollar credit line from the Asian Development Bank to re-start 19 micro hydro projects in tea and rubber plantations. NDB said it had entered into a partnership with Sri Lanka’s Sustainable Energy Authority and the government to participate in the ADB credit line.
The 19 micro hydro plants will have a capacity of 1.3 MegaWatts and they will be connected to the grid through a net metering mechanism. Net metering involves delivering excess power to the grid which is off-set against power drawn from the grid or carried forward as a credit.
NDB said the micro hydro plants are located Badulla. Kandy, Kegalle, Matale, Nuwara Eliya and Ratnapura districts.
The credit line will finance up to 100 percent of the cost of the plants. The loans will have a 5-year repayment period and one year grace period.
The Estate Micro Hydro Rehabilitation and Repowering Project (EMRRP) is part of ADB’s Sustainable Power Sector Support Project, the NDB said.
The estate micro hydro project involve sites developed in the mid 1990s but were no longer operating.
NDB said the hydro plants ranging from 0.25 MW to 10MW t