Prasakthi Energy has commissioned a 3.5 MW biomass dendro power plant at Wilachchiya in Anuradhapura District, burning woody biomass to feed the national grid — a project that state records show was approved nearly four years ago.
The plant is in Sri Lanka’s dry zone. According to the Sri Lanka Sustainable Energy Authority’s register of renewable energy projects, Prasakthi Energy–Wilachchiya (Pvt) Ltd received approval for a 3.5 MW dendro plant at Wilachchiya (Dunumatalawa) with a proposed grid connection to the Anuradhapura 132 kV network, and the register puts the approval date at 10 January 2023, the Island reported.
That gap between approval and commissioning is the most concrete fact available about the project, and neither filing explains it.
What dendro is, and why it is treated differently
Dendro power burns sustainably grown woody biomass — energy crops rather than fossil fuel. Its appeal in Sri Lanka has long been twofold: it displaces imported fuel, and the fuel supply chain itself is rural, paying growers and hauliers rather than overseas suppliers.
It also behaves differently on the grid. Unlike solar and wind, which generate only when the weather allows, a biomass plant can run whenever fuel is available and the facility is working — a more controllable source of renewable electricity. The Island notes the corresponding catch: commercial performance depends heavily on fuel costs, reliable supply and plant efficiency, the three variables that have historically decided whether dendro projects survive.
The rural case, and who is making it
The Daily FT’s account emphasises regional development: a generating plant in a rural area brings investment, infrastructure and work in transport, maintenance, technical services and operational support, beyond the main urban and industrial centres.
Readers should note what that filing is. Much of it concerns logistics, and it credits Expolanka Freight Ltd’s Project Division with moving the plant’s oversized cargo — clearance, transport, equipment mobilisation and final delivery, using lowbed trailers and deliveries sequenced in planned lots against site readiness. Difficult ground conditions, changing weather, restricted access and limited availability of suitable handling equipment are all described as obstacles overcome. It reads as a contractor’s account of a successful job as much as a power-sector announcement.
Not reported
Neither filing gives the plant’s commissioning date, its capital cost, the tariff or power purchase terms agreed with the Ceylon Electricity Board, the source or annual tonnage of its biomass feedstock, how many people it employs, or why commissioning followed approval by almost four years. No annual generation figure is given, so the plant’s output cannot be compared with its 3.5 MW nameplate capacity.
A note on the name. The Daily FT spells the company “Prasakti”; the Island gives “Prasakthi” and attributes that spelling to the Sustainable Energy Authority’s own register, which names the approved entity. This desk has followed the register. The archive holds no previous mention of the company under either spelling.
Corroborated by two verified newsrooms. The approval date, the Dunumatalawa location, the 132 kV connection point and the caution on fuel economics come from the Island alone; the logistics account comes from the Daily FT alone.
