Plans underway to set up Indo-Lanka solar power plant in Trinco

Sri Lanka is to kick-start the process of setting up a solar power plant in Trincomalee following discussions with India, which is partnering the Government in the initiative, Indian media reported.

“The next step would be to undertake a feasibility study and do the groundwork,” spokesman of the Ministry of Power and Renewable Energy Sulakshana Jayawardena told The Hindu recently.

In April the governments of Sri Lanka and India signed a Memorandum of Understanding, for cooperation in a host of development projects including the setting up of a Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) plant in suburban Colombo and a solar power plant in Sampur, Trincomalee.

“We have the required land to set up the 50 MW solar plant envisaged in the MoU. We have to now work out the process of executing the project, in consultation with India,” Mr. Jayawardena said.

Sri Lanka had initially planned to set up a coal power plant in Sampur, through an international joint venture with India’s National Thermal Power Corporation. However, in September 2016 the Power Ministry scrapped the project citing environmental concerns.

A month later, Prime Minister Narendra Modi met President Maithripala Sirisena in Goa, on the side-lines of the BRICS summit, where he flagged the possibility of New Delhi partnering with Colombo in LNG and green energy projects.