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Colombo: Sri Lanka announced nationwide electricity rationing from Monday, 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 Monday evening.
"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 Saturday was caused by a malfunction of one of three generators at the 900-megawatt coal-fired complex north of the capital, he said.
"We now have a shortage of 300 megawatts. 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 Saturday took around 11 hours, after 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 3,000 megawatts, while daytime demand ranges from 2,000 to 2,500 megawatts.
The government aims to increase solar power generation capacity to nearly 4,400 megawatts within three years, a 388 per cent increase from 2024.
