High-powered committee to probe seven-hour islandwide blackout

The Government will appoint a high-powered committee of experts to investigate Saturday’s islandwide power outage, which left much of the country without electricity for around seven hours, Ports, Civil Aviation and Energy Minister Anura Karunathilaka said.

Power was restored to most parts of the island by around 6 p.m. Although the immediate cause of the outage had not been established, Karunathilaka said the inquiry would determine what triggered the blackout, identify any technical or operational shortcomings and examine whether it could have been prevented.

He said all available resources had been deployed to restore electricity following the unexpected outage, which raised concerns over the stability of the national grid.

Karunathilaka expressed regret over the inconvenience caused to the public and said power sector agencies had given priority to restoring supply before beginning a detailed investigation into the cause.

“Our immediate concern was restoring the power supply. We will do everything possible to prevent a recurrence of such power outages,” he said.

The National System Operator (NSO) initially said the blackout had followed instability in the electricity transmission system but did not identify the precise cause.

Sources familiar with the power generation system, however, suspected that a failure involving one of the generating units at the Upper Kotmale Hydropower Plant may have contributed to the outage.

During restoration work, the NSO asked owners of residential and commercial rooftop solar photovoltaic systems to disconnect them from the national grid until further notice.

The request was made to assist efforts to stabilise and restore the electricity system, with the public urged to comply until further instructions were issued.