India-Sri Lanka Relations: Power Sector Cooperation

A coal plant that got scrapped came back to life as a solar farm. That is the story of Sampur, one of the flagship projects behind India and Sri Lanka’s growing power sector partnership. On 7 August 2026, both countries reviewed where that partnership stands.

From Coal Plant to Solar Farm

IntlRel0071

Dec 2006

Sampur Coal MoU

NTPC and Ceylon Electricity Board

2016

Coal Plan Scrapped

Sri Lanka pivots to renewables

2022

NTPC Returns, Solar

Sampur Solar JV formed

7 Aug 2026

Ministers Meet

HVDC + Sampur reviewed

1,000 MW by 2030: the target capacity of the Madurai–Mannar HVDC interconnection, a five-decade-old idea finally taking shape.

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Timeline

• 29 December 2006: NTPC and Sri Lanka’s Ceylon Electricity Board sign an MoU for a 500 MW coal power plant at Sampur.
• 2016: Sri Lanka scraps the Sampur coal project, choosing to shift toward renewable energy instead.
• 2022: NTPC returns to Sampur, this time with the Ceylon Electricity Board, to build a solar power project on the same site.
• 7 August 2026: India and Sri Lanka’s power ministers review the HVDC interconnection and Sampur Solar Project, and reaffirm their energy partnership.

Must Know

• India and Sri Lanka’s power sector cooperation centres on two flagship projects. These are the India-Sri Lanka HVDC interconnection and the Sampur Solar Power Project.
• The proposed HVDC interconnection would link Madurai, in Tamil Nadu, to Mannar, in Sri Lanka’s Northern Province, across the Palk Strait.
• The interconnection targets a final capacity of 1,000 MW, in two phases, with completion planned by 2030.
• The Sampur Solar Power Project, near Trincomalee, is a joint venture between NTPC and Sri Lanka’s Ceylon Electricity Board. It replaced an earlier, scrapped coal power plan at the same site.
• Cooperation also covers cross-border electricity trade, renewable energy, transmission infrastructure, and capacity building.

Good to Know

• The idea of an India-Sri Lanka power grid link goes back to 1970. It has taken more than five decades, and several route studies, to reach today’s HVDC plan.
• About 120 km of the roughly 250 km HVDC route runs undersea, through the Palk Strait. The project uses VSC HVDC bipole technology, which can also help restart Sri Lanka’s grid after a blackout.
• The original Sampur coal project, agreed in 2006, ran into years of delay. Sri Lanka’s government cancelled it in 2016, as part of a wider shift toward cleaner energy.
• The Sampur Solar Project is run through Trincomalee Power Company Limited, a 50:50 joint venture between NTPC and the Ceylon Electricity Board.
• India shared its own experience running the Tariff-Based Competitive Bidding (TBCB) framework, at the August 2026 talks. TBCB is a public-private partnership model for building transmission systems.

Test Yourself

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1. On 7 August 2026, India and Sri Lanka held ministerial talks to review cooperation in which sector?

Power

Defence

Agriculture

Tourism

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Great to Know

• India runs similar power sector partnerships with several neighbours, not just Sri Lanka. See IntlRel0003 — India’s Relations with Myanmar, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and Sri Lanka for the broader neighbourhood picture this project sits inside.
• The Sampur story is a useful case study in how a stalled infrastructure project does not always die. Its site, its partners, and its purpose all changed, and it kept moving forward under a new form.

Current Affairs

• 7 August 2026: India’s Union Power Minister Manohar Lal met Sri Lanka’s Minister of Energy Anura Karunathilake in New Delhi. They reviewed bilateral power sector cooperation. (Source: PIB, Ministry of Power)
• 7 August 2026: Both sides reviewed progress on the HVDC interconnection and the Sampur Solar Power Project. They also discussed deepening cooperation in cross-border electricity trade and renewable energy. (Source: PIB, Ministry of Power)
• 7 August 2026: India shared its experience with the Tariff-Based Competitive Bidding (TBCB) framework, a PPP model for transmission infrastructure, as part of the discussion. (Source: PIB, Ministry of Power)