ECONOMYNEXT – A 103.5 MegaWatt wind power plant built by state-run Ceylon Electricity Board in Sri Lanka’s Mannar area has generated over 1.1 billion unit of electricity over the past three years, official data shows, indicating plant factor of over 40 percent.
The CEB’s Thambavahinni wind farm was built with a 200 million US dollar Asian Development Bank loan.
The plant was expected to generate 321 GigaWatts (millions of units) in 2022 but had generated 347 GWh in 2022, 391.22 GWh in 2023 and 365 GWh in 2024, according to data tabled in in parliament by Energy Minister Kumara Jayakody.
The data implies a plant factor averaging over 40 percent.
It is not clear whether the data, made public in January 09, is the final 2024 data.
A 50 MegaWatt wind plant was awarded to Windorce Plc in June 2026 for 4.88 US cents after competitive bidding.
Meanwhile in a now-cancelled decisions India’s Adani group negotiated a 8.26 cent price for its 484MW plants in Mannar and Pooneryn for 8.26 US cents.
Mannar gets wind from both monsoons in Sri Lanka, contributing to high plant factors. A higher plant factor implies more energy generated from the investment in a wind turbine.
The Mannar plant has bird radar, which shuts the turbine when bird flocks are spotted, reducing generation.
The CEB built the plant with a 200 million US dollar loan from the Asian Development Bank. The project cost was estimated at 256.7 million dollars at the time.
A new grid substation and a transmission line was also built.
Over the past four years the CEB plant has generated 1421 GWh of energy implying 117.43 million dollars of revenues over just 4 years at the Adani plant rate.
At the Windforce plant rate, the revenue is 69 million US dollars over the four years.
Private plants may have to pay commercial interest rates thought the ultimate buyer is a state entity. (Colombo/Jan26/2025)
