Sri Lanka rations electricity after coal plant breakdown

Sign up now: Get insights on Asia's fast-moving developments

Vehicles moving past inoperative traffic lights in Colombo on Oct 17 following a nationwide electricity blackout.

COLOMBO – Sri Lanka announced nationwide electricity rationing from Oct 19, two days after a complete breakdown of the national grid caused by a fault at a coal-fired generator.

The state-run electricity utility said power would be cut for one hour in stages across the island during a four-hour period from the evening of Oct 19.

“We are doing this initially for three days, until we are able to get the coal-fired plant up and running,” Buddhika Samarasekara, a spokesman for the utility, told reporters in Colombo.

The blackout on Oct 17 was caused by a malfunction of one of three generators at the 900MW coal-fired complex north of the capital, he said.

“We now have a shortage of 300MW. We will have this problem until the coal plant is restarted and connected,” he added.

Restoring the national power supply was made tougher by the glut of rooftop solar panels, which continued to generate electricity even after the grid had shut down.

Tax concessions have encouraged consumers to switch to solar and sell their surplus electricity to the grid, creating imbalances that the utility is struggling to manage.

Restoring electricity supply on Oct 17 took around 11 hours, after the authorities made repeated pleas to owners to disconnect their solar systems to help stabilise the grid.

The entire grid shut down in February 2025, when solar power generation exceeded consumption on a bright, sunny day.

Sri Lanka has an installed solar power capacity of just over 3,000MW, while daytime demand ranges from 2,000MW to 2,500MW.

The government aims to increase solar power generation capacity to nearly 4,400MW within three years, a 388% rise from 2024. AFP