• PUCSL approves CEB’s 90 mins.-long islandwide power cuts y’day and today
• One day on – public remains in the dark about what happened as no official clarification has been given
• Power cuts are planned for between 3.30-10 p.m. as Norochcholai generators require time to restart 

The main Parliamentary Opposition, the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB), yesterday (10) opined that the power outage has shown the Government’s incompetence in managing the electricity supply and urged Energy Minister Kumara Jayakody to resign from the position. 

The opposition party also sought action from President Anura Kumara Dissanayake to replace the subject minister.

This, as nearly 24 hours passed since the 7-hour-long islandwide power outage occurred, with authorities yet to give a clear technical explanation as to what happened and why the national power grid was so vulnerable. 

SJB Parliamentarian Mujibur Rahman said that the SJB will raise the matters pertaining to the power outage in the Parliament, seeking the Government’s swift attention and intervention.

Pointing out the media reports that quoted Jayakody as saying that a monkey had come into contact with a grid transformer resulting in the power outage while Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) engineers had further pointed out longstanding electricity supply management-related issues, Rahman told The Daily Morning: “I think that this means that the subject minister is clueless (about what has happened) and he should therefore resign. How can a person that is not familiar with the subject function as the subject minister.”

Commenting on the Government’s statement yesterday that unplanned and short-sighted actions of previous governments had led to the power outage and that no plans had been implemented in the past to maintain the stability of the national power grid, Rahman said that the Government is no longer a ‘new’ one as it came to power over three months ago and that the Government should handle its responsibilities without resorting to placing the blame on previous governments.

He added: “If these issues had persisted for some time, then, the Government, which came to power around four months ago, should have looked into these issues and resolved them.”

In a statement issued yesterday, the CEB said that the Safe Mode Operations of the Norochcholai Lakvijaya Power Plant became active owing to the 9 February power outage, resulting in a breakdown of its three power generators. Adding that the matter was being addressed, the statement said that a power cut has to be implemented to manage electricity, especially during times of limited power generation. Accordingly, one-and-a-half-hour-long power cuts between 3.30 p.m. and 9.30 p.m. were implemented yesterday and are scheduled to be implemented today as well. The decision was approved by the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL), which was unavailable for comment yesterday.

The scheduled power supply disruptions will take place for one-and-a-half-hour each during the planned time period with areas divided into zones to manage the power supply system. 

In this context, the CEB in a statement said that it will launch a ‘special investigation’ into the incident, and that based on the findings of the inquiry, action will be taken to ensure that such incidents do not recur. The Energy Ministry told The Daily Morning that since the power outage is a highly technical one, the CEB has been entrusted with investigating the matter. The relevant discussions were scheduled for yesterday as well, the outcomes of which are to be revealed.

The entire island lost power for several hours from around 11.15 a.m. on 9 February. By around 5 p.m. on 9 February, the CEB claimed to have restored around 80% of the overall power supply, while the Energy Ministry at around 5.45 p.m. added that the power supply had been restored in all areas. The power outage disrupted various economic activities, including the operations of business establishments, and stopped the functioning of traffic lights, inconveniencing commuters. Meanwhile, the Railways Department added that railway gates and warning systems were likely to malfunction due to the power disruptions. While key institutions such as the National Hospital in Colombo were reported to have experienced difficulties due to the power outage, the authorities had taken steps to address those challenges promptly.

The media reported that efforts were made to restore power, but that the process was hindered due to the low electricity demand on 9 February. While the CEB had fully restored power by 6 p.m., all three generators at the Norochcholai Coal Power Plant were automatically disconnected due to the activation of its protocol system. This shutdown had resulted in a loss of 900 megawatts to the national grid. As the electricity demand increased after 6 p.m., several areas experienced power outages. To counteract the shortfall, the CEB had obtained electricity from thermal power plants, ultimately restoring power across the island by 9.45 p.m. Despite these efforts, the CEB had stated that it will take approximately four days to restart the three generators at the Norochcholai plant.