Sri Lanka orders solar shutdown amidst blackout

ECONOMYNEXT- Sri Lanka’s power grid was experiencing a total system failure due to a system instability that occurred this (17) morning, the state utility provider said, and asked rooftop solar owners to disconnect.

The National System Operator (NSO), a successor company of the Ceylon Electricity Board, said it is currently working on restoring the system.

“NSO requests the rooftop solar PV system owners to disconnect their systems until further instructions from NSO, in order to support the restoration efforts.”

Sri Lanka lost power around noon Saturday.

Power supply was yet to be restored two hours later.

Sri Lanka’s previous cascading power failure came from the inability of the grid to recover from shocks due to a large volume of rooftop solar power, the Ceylon Electricity Board Engineers’ Union said at the time.

Renewable power, helped by hydro power and new private renewable power including rooftop solar topped 64.4 percent in May 2025, sharply up from 48.3 percent the previous year, according to official data.

The island nation has seen strong growth in rooftop solar, and as a result, the utility is scrambling to accommodate more renewable power and maintain grid stability for which initial investments are required.

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Sri Lanka has a target of reaching 70 percent renewable power by 2030 with demand also expected to grow. (Colombo/Oct17/2026)