Did Adani Company and the Sri Lankan government agree again for a price revision for the suspended wind power project?

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Recently, the mainstream media in Sri Lanka reported that the Adani Group is interested in re acquiring the US $1 billion worth Mannar Wind Power Plant project. They also reported that a bilateral agreement has been reached between the Government of Sri Lanka and Adani Green Energy to purchase electricity from the Adani Wind Power Project in Mannar at a rate of approximately $7 cents per kilowatt hour. We decided to do a fact check regarding this.

Social Media Posts:

A video of a morning newspaper program was posted on social media, stating, “Adani is once again giving in for the wind power project – a proposal to provide electricity at $7 cents per unit” (“සුළං බලාගාරයට අදානි යළි අතවනයි – විදුලි ඒකකය ඩොලර් ශත 7ට දෙන්න යෝජනාවක්”). In that program, news stories about the Adani company and the Mannar Wind Power Project from the Lankadeepa and Mawbima newspapers are read.

Accordingly, we did a fact check on this, to check whether the Adani Green Energy and the Sri Lankan Government has come to an agreement to return the Wind Power Plant Project to Adani, as the mainstream media reports.

Fact-Check:

Many major media outlets have reported that although Sri Lanka has proposed a price between 5-6 cents of US dollars per kilowatt hour for electricity generated from the Mannar wind plant, according to sources the two sides would agree to a price around 7 cents of US $ per kilowatt hour.

The Lankadeepa newspaper reports as follows.

Here is how it was reported in the website of Lankadeepa.

The Mawbima newspaper had reported that according to the Hindu newspaper, the initial steps of the project would be commenced on the month of June, as the Adani Green Energy and the Sri Lankan government has come to an agreement to purchase electricity at a rate of 7 cents of US $ per kilowatt hour.

Here and here are how the English websites in the country had reported this same news.

However, as most of the news published in Sri Lanka reported that this news was reported in the Indian newspaper ‘Hindu’, we checked the website ‘The Hindu’, in order to check the credibility of this.

Accordingly, we came across the news that was reported on the website The Hindu Business Line, which is a part of The Hindu website. You can view it here. Archived.

Secretary of the Ministry of Energy, Udayanga Hemapala.

We inquired Mr. Udayanga Hemapala, the secretary of the Ministry of Energy, regarding these media reports. 

He stated that no official decision has been taken so far regarding the resumption of the wind power project halted by the Adani Company in India. He also confirmed that media reports regarding an agreement to purchase electricity for 7 cents of US $ per kilowatt hour is false.

He mentioned that Adani is willing to discuss the project’s pricing, but no discussion has been taken in place with the Ministry of Energy.

He stated that since the Fundamental Rights Petition filed in the Supreme Court against the Mannar Wind Power Project were withdrawn on the 18^th, and no discussion has been made regarding hand overing this project again to Adani company.

Here is another statement made by Mr. Udayanga Hemapala regarding this, to another media outlet.

Adani Green Energy SL Ltd

Adani Green Energy SL Ltd. had issued a press release on 20^th strongly denying the rumors circulating regarding alleged changes made to the Renewable Energy Agreement in Sri Lanka.

In the statement, the Adani Group states that the claims that the company has agreed to revise the price and increase up to US $ 7 cents per kilowatt hour are completely false and baseless.

They further state that they are fully committed to the original agreements reached with the relevant Sri Lanakan authorities regarding the agreement, and that there have been no changes to the investment plans and the project parameters of Adani Green Energy SL Ltd.

They further mention that they have respectfully withdrawn from the proposed wind power project, and that the Adani group has reaffirmed that they are always ready to undertake any development opportunity that Sri Lankan government will consider.

Informing the court that Adani’s Mannar Wind Power Project will not be carried out and withdrawing the petitions against it.

The Attorney General informed the Supreme Court that the Indian company Adani has informed the Sri Lankan Investment Board that it will withdraw its decision to construct a wind power plant in the Vedithalatheevu area of ​​Mannar.

Accordingly, Deputy Solicitor General Dr. Avanthi Perera, appearing for the Attorney General, told the court that the government has decided not to implement the relevant project.

Hence, as these matters are satisfactory, the withdrawal of 5 fundamental rights petitions filed against the relevant project took place on the 18^th.

The petitioners had stated in their petition that if the proposed wind power plant in the Vedithalatheevu area in Mannar is implemented, severe environmental damage could occur.

The petition warned that this wind project is planned to be installed on the access route for migratory birds to enter Sri Lanka, and that there is a possibility of harm to migratory birds entering the country through it.

The petitioners have mentioned that the previous government’s cabinet has decided to treat the agreement to build this power plant, which was signed with a private company in India, as an agreement signed with the Indian government. Furthermore, they have pointed out that it was completely against the law and had requested a ruling that their fundamental human rights had been violated. The petitioners had further requested the Supreme Court to rule that the agreement entered into with the Indian company Adani to construct the relevant wind power project is invalid.

Here and here is how the Indian media had reported on this news.

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Conclusion

Our investigation shows that media reports that the Sri Lankan government and Adani Green Energy have reached a bilateral agreement to purchase electricity from the Adani Wind Power Project in Mannar for approximately 7 cents of US $ per kilowatt hour are false. This has been confirmed by the Secretary of the Ministry of Energy, Udayanga Hemapala, as well as Adani Green Agency.