‘Blowing in the wind’ View(s):
In the early 1990s, there was an enterprising group of Sri Lankans who helped install small solar power units in the homes of farmers, paving the way for their children to study at night. The group was also involved in a solar project financially backed by a multilateral agency to help dozens of farmers to whom this low-cost, subsidized power unit sticking out of their rooftops, was an out-of-this world development. The group later sold its interests to the multinational, Shell Company.
It was also a time when there were crippling power-cuts owing to a prolonged drought, during the tenure of Anuruddha Ratwatte who was Power and Energy Minister, with the country depending on hydro power, long before gas turbines and other energy sources came into being.