Courtesy renewablesnow.com

December 8 (Renewables Now) – Sri Lanka has today opened its largest wind farm — a 100-MW facility in Mannar District that received financial support from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) three years ago.

The wind park is owned by Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) and was built at a total cost of about USD 150 million (EUR 124m) even though the developer had a USD-200-million ADB loan on its disposal, local media report. The facility consists of 30 units of 3.45-MW Vestas turbines.

CEB is now considering expanding the plant by 20 MW through the installation of six more turbines at the site, utilising the remaining ADB funds. Its chairman Vijitha Herath told Daily News Finance that, for the purpose, it will launch a Requests for Proposals (RfP) soon.

This commitment comes less than a month after the CEB launched a RfP for the construction of 60 MW of new wind parks, each with an individual capacity ranging from 1 MW to 10 MW and connected to the Madampe grid substation. The winning projects will receive 20-year power purchase agreements (PPAs) with CEB. The proposals should be submitted by mid-February 2021.