MANNAR, Sri Lanka — Under the blanket of darkness, giant trucks rumbled through the narrow roads of Sri Lanka’s Mannar district, their headlights cutting through the night. On their trailers lay colossal white columns and blades longer than a fishing trawler, bound for the island’s windswept northwestern coast. By dawn, word had spread that construction had begun on a new wind farm with 10 massive turbines. For many locals, this was not progress — it was trespass. Fishermen, farmers and environmental activists renewed their protests, blocking the Mannar Bridge to stop the turbine parts from reaching the island. Their voices reached the capital, Colombo, prompting Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake on Aug. 13 to order a one-month suspension pending a review of community concerns, which center on environmental impacts. Mannar’s flat, open coastline has long been identified as a prime location for wind power due to its strong, steady onshore winds. The first large-scale installation, the 100-megawatt Thambapavani plant (often referred to as Mannar Wind Farm Phase I) was commissioned in 2020-2021 by the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB), the state-owned and the largest electricity company in Sri Lanka, with funding from the Asian Development Bank. Its 30 giant turbines stretch across the island’s western edge. A seabird flies against the backdrop of wind turbines. Image courtesy of Lahiru Walpita. Expansion of wind power projects Following Thambapavani, two more projects were proposed. One was the Adani Mannar Wind Project, backed by the Indian conglomerate Adani. It envisioned a fleet of…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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