The country yesterday successfully created artificial rains, a first for the country.
The rains were created in the Maussakelle Reservoir catchment area with the Sri Lanka Air Force deploying a Y12 aircraft to disperse cloud seeding chemicals for 45 minutes on medium altitude clouds, at 8,000 feet above the Maussakelle Reservoir, to induce rains. The rain lasted for 24 minutes. A team of engineers from the Bureau of Royal Rainmaking and Agricultural Aviation (BRRAA) of Thailand, provided technical assistance for this endeavour.
The operation was performed as a pilot project under the first Cloud Seeding Project in Sri Lanka. Power Energy and Business Development Minister Ravi Karunanayake directed Ceylon Electricity Board officials to carry out the project to mitigate the dry weather with instructions to use it to tone down the farmland drought and increase reservoir irrigation for power generation.
Minister Karunanayake and State Minister A.D.Premadasa saw signing of an MoU between Ceylon Electricity Board and Sri Lanka Air Force in January, 2019 at SLAF headquarters to facilitate the project of creating artificial rain for hydropower generation.Air Force Commander, Air Marshal Kapila Jayampathy and Power, Energy and Business Development Ministry Secretary, Dr.B.M.S.Batagoda signed the MoU.
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