The University of Peardeniya in her Centenary Development Plan (CDP) listed Green University as a thematic area and started working towards it since late 2023. With government funding for the CDP, the first phase of the rooftop grid tied Solar PV system under the Green University concept of the Centenary Development plan of the University of Peradeniya has been installed, commissioned and connected to the national grid through the university’s 0.4/33kV ring network. The Solar PV system has a capacity of 1200 kilo watts (kW) of dc power. They are installed in three distinct locations as two in the Faculty of Engineering with generating capacity of 820 kW and another in the Department of Education, Faculty of Arts of the University of Peradeniya with generating capacity of 380 kW. In the selected sites, with sunny weather conditions, it has started generating a total of over 6000 units of electricity (kilo watt hours) per day. The total electricity consumption of the university per month is approximately 500,000 units. Hence the addition of the 1200 kWp system covers 36% of the total consumption of the university. Under the same phase of the project, soon there will be another 300 kWp added to the system with its installation taking place in the Faculty of Medicine. It will further enhance the coverage to 45% of the total consumption of the university. The system contains JA Solar Panels of 590 W and SOLAXTM grid tied inverters of capacities ranging from 50 kW to 125 kW. The supply, installation and commissioning was contracted to Hayleys Solar of Hayleys Fentons (Pvt.) Ltd., who completed the work within 90 days from the date of award of the contract. With this addition, the university expects to cutdown the annual electricity cost by at least one third and go up further in the global green metric and sustainability rankings.
