NDB partners SEA for ADB’s estate micro hydro repowering project

NDB entered into a partnership yesterday with the Sri Lanka Sustainable Energy Authority (SEA) and the Government of Sri Lanka as a participating financial institute for a special initiative introduced by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to assist the development of micro hydro power projects within the estate sector.

Through the project, ADB will provide a credit line of US$ 1.29 m to facilitate the refurbishment and re-powering of micro-hydro power plants in tea/rubber estates to harness hydro power resources within identified estates.

The partnership agreement being exchanged by Raj Aboobucker - Vice President and Head of SME and Retail Banking of NDB  and Dr. Kithsiri Dissanayake - Chairman of the Ministry of Power and Energy. Others from left are Kapila Deshapriya - Head of Refinance of NDB, Indika Ranaweera - Assistant Vice President and Head of SME Business & Retail/ Asset Development, Darmitha Kumarasinghe - Director General, Public Utility Commission of SL, Athula Jayathunge - Director, Renewable Energy of SLSEA,  Vimal Nadeera, Head of Resource Allocation of SLSEA.

The project will deliver engineering assessment and environmental and social monitoring to develop 19identified micro-hydro projects generating a resultant 1.3 MW of grid connected capacity on a net metering basis. The identified micro-hydro projects are located in Badulla, Kandy, Kegalle, Matale, Nuwara Eliya and Ratnapura Districts.

The credit facilities granted to private developers will finance up to 100% of the total estimated cost of the micro-hydro power project at concessionary rates for repayment tenure of five years including a maximum grace period of up to one year.

The Estate Micro Hydro Rehabilitation and Repowering Project (EMRRP) is a sub initiative of the ADB funded ‘Sustainable Power Sector Support Project’ which provides funding for micro-hydro rehabilitation and grid connection along with consulting support to develop detailed technical specifications.

The above initiative of the ADB swiftly follows the recently approved policy initiative for the development of renewable energy sources for grid interconnection, based on the principle of net metering. Through similar projects concluded previously using the above mechanism, small hydropower plants in the capacity range 0.25 to 10 MW have been developed and by end 2011, 107 such power plants with an aggregate capacity of 253 megawatt (MW) had been developed of which 95 power plants of aggregate capacity 206 MW were small hydropower.

A parallel initiative to assist rural communities to develop small hydro resources has resulted in about 300 such off-grid community networks, typically between 10 to 50 kW, serving about 7,500 households. The EMRRP will focus on potential hydro power sites developed in mid 1990s but have ceased to be in operation and have been excluded in the above two initiatives.

Commenting on the partnership, Chief Operating Officer of NDB Indrajit Wickramasinghe said: “We are proud to partner this national endeavour which would make a significant contribution to the national economy through repowering of renewable energy sources with potential to generate considerable volumes of power. Further, by connecting the micro-hydro power plants to the national grid, EMRRP will arrest the opportunity to effectively utilise this power generated through excess water supply, which was not efficiently used earlier when they were operated in the off grid mode.

“Cost effective power generation is a key contributor towards sustainable economic development and thus, refurbishment of the existing small-scale power sources spread across the island is seen as an effective mechanism to meet the increasing demand for power in a developing Sri Lanka. From its inception, NDB has been in the forefront of national development and thus partnering this joint venture of the Government, ADB and Sustainable Energy Authority further reiterates our commitment towards the development of the economy. Providing industry specific finance solutions coupled with the expert financial advice has been a core-strength of NDB and we will continue to seek to invest in such ventures that support the national economy.”

With the premise that Small and Medium Enterprises form the bedrock of employment and economic development of the country, NDB has dedicated over 30 years of financial assistance and expertise to this sector.  While development banking with SMEs has always been an important aspect of NDB’s portfolio from its inception, today as a fully-fledged financial conglomerate, it now takes on an even more important role to support the post war economic development and the Government’s quest to fuel economic growth of the country.

Having recognised the importance of the SME sector to the country’s economy and its vast potential for growth, the bank has pioneered project lending to the SME sector supporting over 90,000 ventures, creating in excess of 900,000 employment opportunities.

With a combination of products and services that include SME banking solutions, expert advisory services, islandwide educational sessions and the opening of regional SME centres; NDB is continuously strengthening its commitment towards SME development with the goal of sufficiently empowering Sri Lankan entrepreneurs to take on the challenges of the a changing market place.

NDB is one of the fastest growing banks in the country with NDB Group having regional operations in Maldives and Bangladesh. The bank offers a wide range of commercial banking services through its growing island-wide branch network, catering to an increasing customer base from all walks of life.

Through the combined synergies of the diverse constituents of the NDB Group, its customers have access to a full range of banking and financial services; including project finance, corporate banking, SME lending, retail banking, investment banking, stock broking, wealth management, and insurance solutions, making NDB a truly universal bank.