Post - Articles

China to help Sri Lanka produce thin-film solar cells

  • 7 years ago (2017-07-31)
  • David Flin
Asia 933 Solar 287

Susil Premejayantha, Sri Lanka’s Minister for Science, Technology, and Research, has said that Sri Lanka will soon be producing thin-film solar-cells on a commercial basis with technological cooperation from China as a means of popularising the use of solar panels for power generation. He said that a number of technicians were being trained in “Modern Solar Power Technology” at Colombo, Ruhuna, Jaffna, and Kelaniya universities.

IFBF (International Flow Battery Forum) 2025
More info

IFBF (International Flow Battery Forum) 2025

“I paid a visit to China last week with some Sri Lankan scientists to obtain first-hand experience on solar power technology. The Chinese Government is helping us to develop solar power technology in Sri Lanka. I hope we will be in a position to drastically reduce the use of costly thermal power generation, which is also an environmental pollutant,” the minister said. He said producing it locally on a mass scale would help the government’s plan to phase out coal and thermal power generation, and increase solar power generation to 800 MW by 2030.

Thin-film technology has been cheaper but less efficient than conventional c-Si technology. However, quality standards have significantly improved over the years. The lab cell efficiency for CdTe and CIGS is now above 21 per cent, out-performing multi-crystalline silicon, the dominant material currently used in many solar crystalline systems.