The Cabinet on Monday approved obtaining transaction advisory services from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for the development of a 150 MW wind power project at Kondachchi, paired with an advanced battery energy storage system (BESS) so that the plant can deliver firm renewable power to the national grid.
The estimated cost of the advisory services is $1.2 million, provided as a grant under ADB’s Technical Assistance Framework, Cabinet Spokesman Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa said at the post-Cabinet briefing. Under the arrangement, ADB will run end-to-end transaction advisory support throughout the project development cycle — preparing bidding documents, issuing tender invitations and managing the eventual project award through a competitive procurement process.
Energy Minister Anura Karunathilake submitted the proposal on behalf of the National System Operator (NSO), the successor entity to the Ceylon Electricity Board, which is now the entity that procures generation capacity and submits tariff revisions. The Kondachchi project is identified as a priority initiative under the government’s strategy to expand clean energy capacity and increase private sector participation in the power sector.
The wind-plus-storage configuration is the key engineering choice. Wind output is intermittent on its own, but when integrated with batteries it can be dispatched on demand, behaving as a “virtual firm energy plant.” This is the same technical track being followed by the 12-recommendation grid stabilisation programme Karunathilake announced last week, which folds in the Habarana BESS site backed by the World Bank and the broader 300 MW Cabinet-approved storage plan.
Sri Lanka’s wind generation has lagged solar in recent years, with most new capacity arriving via rooftop PV. Mannar district — including Kondachchi — has long been identified as the country’s strongest onshore wind resource. The 150 MW competitive procurement, run with ADB advisory support, will be one of the largest single-asset wind tenders to come to market under the NSO regime.
