Minister explains power outage - requests to turn off solar

As the entire country plunged into darkness with the sudden power outage across the island this morning (17), operations to swiftly restore the power supply have already commenced. The exact cause of this sudden imbalance in the power system has not yet been officially revealed, and Energy Minister Anura Karunathilaka states that efforts to restore power in phases are currently underway.

Investigations are currently underway to find the main cause that led to this emergency situation. In particular, a fault occurred at a Kotmale power generation plant yesterday (16), causing its operation to cease, and authorities are currently paying special attention to whether that situation contributed to the breakdown of the national system's balance this morning.

Meanwhile, as a measure to support the process of restoring the national power system, the Minister has made a special request to all consumers using rooftop solar panels. This is to disconnect their solar panel systems at this moment to help restore the system quickly.

The Minister emphasizes that the primary focus at this moment is on restoring power to the entire island rather than finding the cause of the incident. Under this swift process, authorities have already been able to restore power supply to one section. Accordingly, the Energy Minister further expresses confidence that power will be restored to the entire island in phases very soon in the coming period.