Rs 40B Wind Farm for Mannar ADB approves US$ 200M loan

Sri Lanka will build a massive Wind Farm on Mannar Island which will cost more than Rs 40 billion and produce 100 Megawatts of electricity.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) announced Tuesday it has approved a US$ 200 million loan for the project which requires the loss-making Ceylon Electricity Board to come up with Rs 11.3 billion to meet the total cost of the project. In a statement released on its website, the Bank said the estimated completion date for the project is the end of 2021.

“The new wind power generation project will not only provide access to a clean and reliable power supply in Sri Lanka, but will also create an environment for further wind power development through future public-private partnerships,” said ADB Principal Energy Specialist, Mukhtor Khamudkhanov. “Diversifying the country’s power generation through clean, renewable energy sources will improve the country’s energy security and environment.”

With the share of thermal (coal and oil-fired) power still accounting for two-thirds of power generation in 2016, there is an urgent need to develop clean energy sources such as wind and solar energy, reduce losses in the system, and boost energy efficiency.

While the remaining third of total generated power last year was from renewable sources, most of this was accounted for by large hydropower facilities. Only about 8 per cent comes from non-conventional renewable energy sources such as mini hydro, wind, solar, and biomass. The country’s goal is to increase the share of these non-conventional renewable energy sources to about 20 per cent of the total generated power by 2020, the ADB said.

Besides the wind farm, the project will provide the associated infrastructure, such as internal cabling and access roads, energy dispatch control centre and reactors to manage voltage levels.

More generally, the project will also establish the procedures to enable the CEB—the executing and implementing agency for the project—to act as a wind park developer that can attract……the private sector in future wind power generation. These include establishing cost benchmarks and conducting competitive bidding for future wind power projects and managing the flow of intermittent wind energy through the power system.

The ADB, based in Manila, is dedicated to reducing poverty in Asia and the Pacific through inclusive economic growth, environmentally sustainable growth, and regional integration. Established in 1966, the ADB is celebrating 50 years of development partnership in the region. It is owned by 67 members—48 from the region. In 2016, ADB assistance totalled US$31.7 billion, including US$14 billion in co-financing.