Amid Sri Lanka’s green energy push, communities in Mannar fear environmental fallout

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A view of the Ceylon Electricity Board’s Thambapavani Wind Power Project on Mannar Island, in Sri Lanka’s Northern Province. | Photo Credit: Meera Srinivasan

For about a decade now, successive governments in Sri Lanka have sought to tap Mannar’s strong winds to power the island’s transition to green energy. But renewable energy projects — existing and proposed — have left local communities increasingly fearful about the possible impact on their environment and livelihoods.

Residents in villages across Mannar district, on Sri Lanka’s north-western coast, report recurring flash floods in recent years, growing demand for land from both the government and private companies, the constant noise from wind turbines near their homes, and a shrinking fish catch. They fear that the growing number of renewable energy projects could be contributing to these changes and impacting the environment. If decades of war meant contending with deaths, disappearances, and displacement , the post-war years have forced another struggle upon the people of Mannar — for development that meets their needs . The renewable energy projects are yet to speak to them.

“We are often asked if there is scientific proof linking these changes to the renewable energy projects. Sometimes, everyday lived realities of people reveal more than science does,” said Fr. G. A. Arulraj Croos, Director, Caritas Valvuthayam, the social arm of the Catholic Diocese of Mannar. “It is a survival issue, not merely an environmental concern.”

Residents have no scientific evidence to substantiate their claims so far. But they contend that the authorities, too, have not shown them research that rules out any impact on their environment. “We can only tell you what we see and experience. The course of waterways in our village has changed. We can see the coastline eroding,” said a resident of Arippu village who leads a local fishermen’s association. “Following land acquisitions in the district to accommodate wind turbines, rainwater does not drain out like before. We are frequently experiencing floods,” he said, requesting not to be named. “They [the authorities] think we oppose everything”.

Mannar district spans the country’s north-western mainland and a small, dolphin-shaped island connected to it by a causeway. It is on this island that Talaimannar, Sri Lanka’s closest point to India, is located – once connected to Rameswaram by a short ferry ride across the Palk Strait. It is also here that some of the strongest winds on the island blow.

Thirty towering turbines bearing the name of their Danish manufacturer, Vestas, line the southern coast at the Ceylon Electricity Board [CEB]’s Thambapavani wind farm — Sri Lanka’s first large-scale wind project.