The problem persists because the Sri Lankan government appears committed to using Mannar by reconciling the need for power generation with peoples’ concerns.
By P.K. Balachandran
Colombo, August 15-Wind power projects in Mannar continue in cross hairs. At first, it was the US$ 500 million Adani power project, which faced opposition from the local public, environmentalists and economists, who challenged the exorbitant pricing. Now it is the turn of two Sri Lankan projects to face the music.
While Adani folded up and left, now the Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake has suspended work on two wind power plants for a month ostensibly to solve issues brought up by the local community.
“It was decided to develop a framework to identify and resolve the issues faced by local communities due to the wind power plant. It was also agreed to temporarily suspend the construction of the two wind power plants, one of 20 MW already underway and another of 50 MW proposed, despite tenders being called and contracts awarded,” the President’s office said in a statement on August 14.
This followed a nine-day long continuous agitation by local communities, including Catholic and other religious leaders and leaders of major Tamil political parties.
They had raised the twin issues of environmental damage and impacts on residents from the wind power project as well as the ilmenite mining project at a meeting on August 13.
President Dissanayake said the projects would not proceed without the approval of the Central Environmental Authority’s assessment reports. When he was told that there was a failure to properly implement the environmental reports and recommendations, he said that that the project would be postponed for one month to study the issues faced by the local people.
It was decided to develop a framework to identify and resolve the issues faced by local communities due to the wind power plant, the President’s office said.
Agitation
On August 5, shops across the Mannar Bazaar area were shut in a show of solidarity, with traders expressing their strong opposition to the second phase of the wind power project.
People accused the authorities of ignoring the legitimate environmental concerns and failing to consult residents in any meaningful way. Tamil parliamentarians recently submitted a joint letter to President Dissanayake raising these concerns and warning that the situation in Mannar had reached the level of an “emergency”.
The protest, organised by the Mannar Citizens’ Forum and led by Father Marcus Adigalar, drew a broad coalition of support including Christian clergy, the chief Moulavi of the Moor Street Jumma Mosque, civil society organisations, local lawyers and concerned residents. Demonstrators also blocked the transport of heavy equipment brought in via the Mannar–Madavachchi main road.
Following the protest, a delegation including Father Marcus, lawyer P. Deniswaran, public organisation leader V.S. Sivakaran, and Father Christunesan Adigalar met with Mannar District Secretary K. Kanakeswaran and Additional Secretary M. Pradeep.
But officials said that the project had received Cabinet approval and warned that any disruption by local authorities could result in personal liability for incurred expenses.
Given the Cabinet’s approval, this matter must now be challenged legally, Deniswaran said, addressing protesters after the meeting. “Our movement must persist until we obtain a court injunction against this project,” he added.
Dissanayake’s Election Pledge
Protesters recalled a pledge given by President Dissanayake during his election campaign visit to Mannar that no wind power project would proceed without the full consent of the local population, and that it would be halted if there was popular opposition.
Despite those assurances, this project was forced on the people, Deniswaran said.
Even now, there is no assurance that it will be called off as the President’s office said that an attempt would be made to find an amicable solution, considering the need for power and the peoples’ concerns.
The Controversy
The controversy over wind power plants in Mannar is an old one. Sri Lanka’s first large scale wind farm is the Mannar Wind Farm. As a first step, 100MW of wind power was developed. The project comprised 30 state-of-the-art wind turbines, each rated to 3.45 MW. The total installed capacity of this wind farm was 103.5 MW.
The First Phase of the project was commissioned on 8th December 2020 as “Thambapawani” and 30 MW was connected to the National Grid.
In the Second Phase, the Sri Lanka Sustainable Energy Authority (SLSEA) commenced surveying of identified lands in Mannar Island to develop an additional 200 MW of capacity.
But the Second Phase faced fierce local resistance due to its positioning within one of the main bird migratory corridors in the Asian region. This aspect was overlooked due to the economic priorities that prevailed at the time.
Enter Adani
During Sri Lanka’s worst health and economic crises in recent times, the billionaire Indian businessman Gautham Adani visited Sri Lanka and met with the then President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa. He visited the proposed site in Mannar on a Sri Lankan Air Force helicopter.
Subsequently, the Ministry of Power and Energy, agreed to receive an unsolicited proposal for the construction and operation of the Mannar Wind Power Project (Phase-II), and another in Poonaryn, to Adani Green Energy Sri Lanka Ltd. (AGESL), on Build, Own, and Operate (BOO) basis for 25 years for an approximate investment of US$ 500 million.
The project was expected to generate 1048 GWh of energy annually. The Annual Energy Production (AEP) of the proposed wind farm was to meet 6% of the country’s energy requirement.
Ecological Significance of Mannar Island
In an article Daily FT on April 6, 2024, Prof. Nimal Gunatilleke of Peradeniya University said that Mannar and other islands on the Gulf of Mannar between India and Sri Lanka had been identified as among the most important migratory corridors and a Critical Wintering Site for bird species in the Central Asian Flyway.
The Sri Lankan government had declared three Protected Areas covering Mannar’s key wetlands, namely, Adam’s Bridge National Park, Vankalei Sanctuary, and the Vidataltivu Nature Reserve.
Mannar provides breeding habitats for eight species of seabirds, many of which are listed as Critically Endangered (CR) in the national Red List of Threatened Species. Sri Lanka, being a signatory to the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) is committed to safeguarding these migratory species. Furthermore, Sri Lanka is a signatory nation for the United Nations Convention of Migratory Species (CMS), Gunatilleke pointed out.
He said that Sri Lanka had a global responsibility to protect about 15 million birds (of 250 species) visiting Sri Lanka from over 30 countries. Mannar alone gets about a million birds representing 150 species. There are clear evidence-based reports that Mannar Island provides overwintering ground and breeding habitats for numerous seabirds, waterbirds, and forest birds, some of which are classified as Critically Endangered in Sri Lanka’s national Red List of Threatened Species, he added.
The Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) of the proposed 250 MW Mannar Wind Power Project (Phase II) was submitted to the Sri Lanka Sustainable Energy Authority in January 2024 by the Consulting Engineers & Architects Ltd. It was then made open for public review for 30 working days from Jan 1 to 6 of 2024.
Environmental impact
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However, experts said that the EIA report had failed to adequately address the project’s impact on migratory birds due to, inadequate bird observations, outdated methodologies, negligence regarding international conventions and scientific literature, neglect of alternative sites with high wind energy potential but lower ecological impact.
The narrow ‘movement corridor’ for birds shown by the EIA seemed highly arbitrary and lacked support from currently available information in the EIA report, itself. The proposed corridor was conveniently away from the wind farm site.
Martin Harper, Chief Executive Officer, Birdlife International writing to the then President Ranil Wickremesinghe said that Birdlife International was ready to support Sri Lanka’s energy sector in identifying nature-safe siting options, such that Sri Lanka can meet its energy needs in an ecologically sensitive manner.
Rohan Pethiyagoda, a leading environmental activist in Sri Lanka, said that multiple sites needed to be evaluated and the one with the lowest environmental impact and greatest socio-economic benefits ought to be chosen. Environmentalist Jagath Gunawardene said that the Sustainable Energy Authority had prepared a document on wind-power generation, where they had identified locations in seven districts as areas with high potential for wind-power generation. And Mannar was not one of them.
The activists pointed out how, if permission was granted to the Adani project, Sri Lanka would have to pay way above the market rate for a single unit of energy in US Dollars. In the Adani Wind Power Project, the energy agreement duration was 25 years and throughout that period, Sri Lanka would have had to pay 4 US cents, as opposed to 2 US cents which is the market price for a single unit.
The Adani wind power project ended ingloriously, with the company withdrawing its project proposal due to a court case against it and also public opposition.
But the Sri Lanka government has not given up its penchant for using Mannar for wind power generation. President Dissanayake appears to be more keen on power generation than satisfying environmentalists and the local population.
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