India's Adani Group, which has recently been awarded the contract to develop and run Sri Lanka’s strategic Western Container Terminal of Colombo Port, is also exploring the possibility of investing in the country’s renewable energy and wind sector. This came after the group’s chairman Gautam Adani, who is on a visit to Sri Lanka, met President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Wednesday.  

A senior official from Sri Lanka’s state-owned Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) confirmed that the group has showed inclination in investing in the sector. A few weeks earlier, the Adani Group, through the Adani Ports and SEZ, inked a deal with Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) to develop and run the strategic Colombo Port’s Western Container Terminal (WCT) on a 35-year build, operate, and transfer (BOT) basis. 

“The Adani group has yesterday explored the possibility of investing in Sri Lanka’s wind and renewable energy sector,” Nalinda Ilangakoon, the Vice Chairman of CEB, was quoted as saying by The Financial Times. During the visit, Adani along with senior officials of the group also visited Mannar, a northeastern district, to see a wind power station there. 

The Ahmedabad-headquartered Adani Group, aiming to have the world’s largest renewable power portfolio by 2030, has earlier said that it would invest around $20 billion in the renewable sector in the next decade. The Adani Group, with a market cap of over $122 billion, comprises six publicly traded companies.   

Sri Lanka has recently opened phase two of the Mannar Wind Energy Park, with an estimated capacity of 100 MW, for potential investors (BOT) basis.  The country has immense potential for renewable energy, including wind,  development. However, the lack of investment and transmission infrastructure often hinders its development.

Currently, wind energy contributes only two percent of its total power generation (roughly 10415 GW in 2020), according to the International Renewable Energy Agency. 

US’ National Renewable Energy Laboratory estimated that in Sri Lanka, around 100 square km of the total windy area--roughly six percent of its total land area--is on land and about 700 km2 is in lagoons. It further estimated the windy land could support almost 20,000 MW of potential installed capacity. If the windy lagoons are included, the total theoretical wind potential increases to approximately 24,000 MW.

(SAM)