The government of Sri Lanka has entered into a power purchase agreement (PPA) with Australian firm United Solar Group (USG) for a 700MW floating solar and storage project.
The project is being developed by USG’s local subsidiary in Sri Lanka United Solar Energy SL Pvt Company. On its site, it says that US$500 million of the investment is earmarked for domestic project components.
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The country’s minister of power and energy announced the PPA on the social media platform X, formerly known as X, earlier this week (12 December).
“Cabinet approval was granted yesterday to enter into a PPA with United Solar Group (USG) of Australia to invest in a 700MW solar power project with a 1500MWh of battery energy storage system,” said Kanchana Wijesekera.
“The Solar power project will be installed on the surface of the Poonakary Tank in the Killinochi District, with a Foreign Direct Investment of US$1.727 billion.”
This project will be a major boost for Sri Lanka’s renewables installed capacity, which already comes 59% from renewables – 25% of solar PV – as of 2022. Last month the government issued a request for proposals (RfP) seeking 70MW of ground-mounted solar PV, with the bidding period set to close on 19 December 2023.
Moreover, the floating solar market is expected to boom in the coming years, mainly supported by the Asia-Pacific region due to a scarcity of land availability in many of the countries. A report from energy research company Wood Mackenzie expects the technology to surpass 6GW of installed capacity by 2031.
This article was first published on our sister site Energy-storage.news.