Colombo, May 2 – India will be allowed to build a 50 MegWatt solar power plant in the Eastern Trincomalee district in Sri Lanka where plans for a 500MW coal plant was scrapped by the island’s current administration.
Under a memorandum signed during a visit of Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe to India, Sri Lanka is expected to issue a letter of intent to India by end May for a 50MW solar plant, Colombo-based The Sunday Times newspaper said.
The plant would be expandable to 100 MW.
There was no mention of the price to be paid per unit of power bought by Ceylon Electricity Board.
The coal plant which was initiated during the ousted Rajapaksa administration was delayed due to an abnormally high heat rate to which CEB engineers objected.
But with the current administration scrapping coal plants, the CEB and power consumers are going to be saddled with more expensive fuels.
-Economynext