By The Pulseline News Desk
Sri Lanka experienced an islandwide power outage on Saturday (17) following a system instability in the national transmission network, prompting emergency restoration efforts and disrupting water treatment operations at two major facilities.
The National System Operator (NSO) said the country’s power grid suffered a total system failure at around 11.45 a.m. following instability in the transmission network.
Energy Minister Anura Karunathilake said the exact cause of the outage had yet to be established, while technical teams were working to restore electricity supplies across the country in stages.
The Minister said electricity had already been restored to one area, with further restoration expected progressively as efforts continued to stabilise the national grid.
A technical failure at a power plant in Kotmale on Friday (16) was among the possible contributing factors being investigated, although no definitive link to Saturday’s islandwide outage had been established.
The Minister said the immediate priority was to restore electricity to consumers as quickly as possible, while investigations into the circumstances surrounding the system failure continued.
Rooftop solar owners asked to disconnect systems
As part of the restoration process, the NSO requested owners of rooftop solar photovoltaic (PV) systems to disconnect their systems until further notice.
The request was made to support efforts to restore and stabilise the national electricity grid following the widespread interruption.
The NSO confirmed that the outage had affected the entire country and said restoration work was underway.
The request to rooftop solar owners highlighted the need to coordinate distributed electricity generation with the process of rebuilding and stabilising the national grid following a complete system failure.
Water treatment operations disrupted
The power outage also disrupted water treatment operations, with purification activities at the Ambatale and Biyagama water treatment plants temporarily suspended, according to the Chairman of the National Water Supply and Drainage Board (NWSDB).
The Board urged consumers to use water sparingly, warning that the islandwide electricity interruption could affect water supply operations.
The temporary suspension of purification activities at the two facilities raised concerns over possible disruptions to water distribution while electricity supplies remained interrupted.
The NWSDB expressed regret over the inconvenience caused to consumers and called for the prudent use of available water until operations could resume normally.
Cause of outage yet to be established
The nationwide interruption has renewed attention on the stability of Sri Lanka’s electricity transmission network and the challenges involved in restoring the grid following a total system failure.
Although the technical failure reported at the Kotmale power plant on Friday is among the factors being examined, the authorities have yet to determine the precise cause of Saturday’s outage.
The restoration process is expected to proceed in stages as technical teams work to bring the electricity system back to normal operation.
For now, the Government’s immediate challenge is to restore power islandwide, minimise disruptions to essential services, including water treatment, and establish what triggered the failure.
Further details on the cause of the outage and the progress of restoration are expected as investigations continue.
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