Mega windmill power project by Danish company

A Danish company has been selected for a US$ 200 million project to generate power by installing windmills in Mannar, Power and Energy Ministry Secretary Suren Batagoda told the Sunday Times.

This will be the first of three

major projects of the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB), which has decided to boost its supplies from wind and solar power and hopes to generate 300 megawatts of electricity by the end of next year.

Dr Batagoda said the Asian Development Bank (ADB) would provide a soft loan for the project to be awarded next week to the Danish company selected from a bidding procedure. Under the project, 39 towers will be installed to generate about 100 Mw of power.

"The project is expected to be completed faster than other projects as the equip- ment is pre- fabricated and takes less time to install. The project is expected to be completed by the end of next year and ready to generate power," he said.

Two other solar power projects are expected to come up in Pooneryn in the North and in Monaragala. Through these projects, the CEB expects to generate 200 Mw of power.

He said that under the project the Government would be leasing out only 500 acres of land at each location for independent power producers to put up the towers.

The Government would be calling for international tenders next month for the other two projects which should be ready by the end of next year.

In addition to these project, the Secretary said the Cabinet had approved several other projects including a barge-mounted project to generate about 100 Mw of power and four projects which could generate 25 Mw each. These four projects would be handled by the private sector. The CEB would enter into an agreement to buy power for 10 years from the producers.

Currently, Sri Lanka’s a verage daily power consumption is around 2,400 Mw.