DFCC Bank won a merit Award at the Association of Development Financing Institutions in Asia and the Pacific (ADFIAP) Awards Night in Oman recently.
The award was given under the ‘Outstanding Development Project Awards, Category two, Environmental Development’ for DFCC Bank’s project, ‘Funding the Installation of Rooftop Solar Systems of Large Rooftop Owners’.
By generating 11.4 MW of solar power, this project contributes to the objective of the ‘Soorya Bala Sangramaya’ of the Government of adding 200 MW of solar electricity to the national grid by 2020 and 1,000 MW by 2025.
CEO Lakshman Silva said, “DFCC Bank has gone a step ahead from reaffirming its support for renewable energy by playing a proactive role by extending green financing for projects that harness renewable energy to take Sri Lanka closer to increase its renewable energy production while making a contribution to the national electricity grid.
“Developing green energy requires us to think out of the box and this project leverages on rooftops without having to stop due to scarcity of land.It is a practical and innovative solution that can be implemented in rural and urban areas alike.
“DFCC Bank has a strong track record in financing renewable energy projects, having financed over 75 projects across a broad spectrum of green energy sources such as hydro, wind and solar. We believe that as a bank we can make a great difference by extending loans for such nationally important projects. We thank the jury at the ADFIAP awards for recognising our efforts yet again,” he said.
DFCC Bank received this recognition because this is an innovative project as it involves installation of solar roofing (by a promoter specialising in renewable energy projects) on rooftops of large buildings owned by others.
This model will be a major boost to the rooftop solar industry, as potential investors can rent space from large rooftop owners, such as garment factories, who are not interested in making the capital investment for a project of this nature.