COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, June 15 (UPI) -- Sri Lanka has received a new World Band credit to power thousands of rural homes and tap into private sector renewable energy.
Officials estimate Sri Lanka will be able to light up 60,000 rural homes and also connect new private-sector renewable energy to the urban power grid with a new World Bank credit, Lanka Business Online reported.
The main aim of the first project is to bring electricity to remote communities and individual households through village-led electricity societies and provide solar energy services, the World Bank said.
The $40 million soft loan will help boost grid-connecting capacity by 50 megawatts and extend off-grid electricity services to 60,000 more households and 500 rural micro- and small-scale enterprises.
Only three-fourths of households in Sri Lanka have grid-connected power and it is too expensive for the cash-strapped utility to electrify remote villages, though most rural areas have been given power.
"We would like to focus on the provision of energy services to some of the 25 percent of the Sri Lankan population that has no access to electricity at home," said World Bank Country Director Naoko Ishii in a statement.
A previous project funded by the World Bank provided 74,000 solar power systems to 3,200 households and nine schools, enabling them to give computers to school children.
The credit is provided by the International Development Association, the World Bank's concessionary lending arm, and has 20 years to maturity and a 10-year grace period.
