The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has allocated $200 million to support the wind energy sector in Sri Lanka, the Clean Technica news agency reported. The Bank would provide financial support by buying debt instruments issued in the national and international market.

The Wind Power Generation Project does not provide any quantitative details about capacity addition but does mention 2018 as a landmark year. Through this program Sri Lanka is looking to tap its substantial wind energy resources.

Sri Lanka lies just south of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, which has the highest wind energy resource as well as installed capacity. Sri Lanka has estimated its theoretical wind energy potential at 35 GW; but the actual potential feasible to be tapped would be quite low.

Sri Lanka’s Sustainable Energy Authority has set a target to have 10% of all installed power capacity in the country based on renewable energy sources by the end of this year. The progress made against this target is not known, but to achieve the target the country would require having 460 MW of renewable energy capacity installed.

Hydro power is expected to be the leading technology, followed by wind energy and biomass, in the renewable energy installed capacity mix. (Clean Technica)