While reading the ongoing opposition about a proposed Wind Power Project in Mannar, whichthose against say is in the flight path of migratory birds (though the Environment Impact Assessment report, the government, and also the developer say otherwise), I am reminded about a similar issue our neighboring country had faced and resolved.
The desert state of Rajasthan in India, which has large tracts of barren land and sees sunny days for over 350 days a year, became a test case for need to balance between environment and development. Due to its location and climate, large scale solar projects began coming upthere.However, reports began coming that the Rajasthan’s state bird, known as the Great Indian Bustard (GIB), also an endangered species, were colliding with the power transmission towers and dying. The matter reached the country’s apex court which passed an order in 2021, forbidding construction of power transmission towersin an area of 99,000 sq kms. So an area about 1.5 times the size of Sri Lanka, was suddenly kept out of bound for the power industry.
The problem was, this largely overlapped the solar energy zones and the only way one could work around the court’s order was evacuating power through underground cables, which is extremely expensive. This made solar projects unviable and put the state’s 25GW of solar capacity plan in disarray.
Earlier this year, India’s Supreme Court revisited its earlier stand and delivered a landmark judgment, balancing the conservation of endangered species with India’s climate change commitments. The Court recognised the existence of fundamental right to be free from the adverse impacts of climate change. It is of massive significance from the lens of inclusive climate action and is probably the first time a clean and stable environment got formally linked to rights to life and equality.
To be free from the adverse impacts of climate change, is such a strong statement and it needs to be seriously evaluated in Sri Lanka too.
Consider the facts of the case.
A developer, India’s Adani Group, has proposed to invest over a billion dollars to set up a ~500 MW of wind power project in our country. This, reports say, will displace fossil fuel worth US$ 270+ Mn annually,cut CO2 emission by 1.06 million tons p.a. In terms of cost too, Government seems to have negotiated a fairly competitive tariff of USD Cent 8.26 or LKR 24.78/ unit, which is lower than several other sources from where CEB either generates or buys power from.
The projectwill be SL’s largest Renewable Energy(RE) power source which can potentially upend its energy dynamics and take the country closer to self-reliance and reduce dependence on fossil fuels. Hence from all angles, it’s a no brainer that this project is what the country needs.
However, a section of people are opposing the project on grounds that it lies on the flight path of migratory birds.They are ignoring the fact that the Adani proposed project is merely parallel to CEB’s existing wind project and if that’s safe, why not this. The EIA, done by a renowned professor, clearly states that the project site is not in the bird flight path, The government too has said that a 2km corridor has been kept free for easy bird flight.
On its part, the developer has committed to use modern technology like AI-based radarsto detect oncoming birds and shut down the turbines, and use coloured tips of blades to increase their detection. This besides their commitment towards habitat protection and other conservation initiatives.
But this is not satisfying to those opposing. Which brings me back to my argument that, aren’t we, as citizens, have right to be free from the adverse impact of climate change?Should we be held hostage by few vested interests who are denying us the benefits of green (and cheap) energy?
As an island nation with limited land resource, our future generation is at risk due to rising sea levels and climate change. We need to urgently pivot to renewable energy. Sri Lanka has set a goal of achieving 70% RE generation by 2030 and becoming carbon neutral by 2050. Over the next 25 years, our power demand is projected to grow at an annualized rate of ~5% andto meet our sustainability objectives, by 2050, we will need to add ~7,000 MW of fresh RE capacity.
We are signatory to several international environment conservation agreements and we citizens also have a right to a healthy environment. We need a balanced approach, ensuring that efforts to protect endangered species do not undermine the country’s commitment to reducing its carbon footprint and transitioning to renewable energy. Given the nature of the core issue in this case, using the just transition framework is an excellent approach, which can facilitate equitable climate action, including, articulation of a more reflexive and inclusive citizen’s right.
By Vinayak Maheswaran –( the writer is an equity and economic analyst at an equity markets platform who was also a former analyst at Wells Fargo Advisors.)
