The Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) has announced that power generation at the Norochcholai Coal Power Plant is expected to be fully restored by Friday, February 14.
CEB Engineer Dhammika Wimalaratna stated that efforts are being made to expedite the process:
🔹 “We believe we can restore power supply within three to four days. By February 14, full restoration is expected, eliminating the need for demand management. However, if we restore power earlier, we will notify the public.”
The current one-and-a-half-hour power cuts may be reduced in the coming days as restoration progresses.
Power Crisis Triggered by Unusual Incident
Sri Lanka suffered a nationwide power outage on February 9 at 11:15 a.m., traced back to an incident at the Panadura grid substation—where a monkey reportedly entered, causing an imbalance in the power system.
🔸 Power was fully restored by 6:00 p.m., but a new issue emerged at Norochcholai, where all three generators were automatically disconnected, resulting in a 900-megawatt loss to the national grid.
🔸 As demand surged by 6:00 p.m., additional outages occurred, forcing the CEB to source power from thermal plants before full restoration by 9:45 p.m.
The CEB has assured the public that measures are in place to stabilize the power supply and prevent further disruptions.
