CHATURANGA PRADEEP SAMARAWICKRAMA 
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Strong support from rooftop solar owners amid grid risk: CEB
Colombo, April 17 (Daily Mirror) - The Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) said yesterday that many rooftop solar panel owners across the country gave a positive response by agreeing to turn off their systems during the daytime (until 3 p.m.) from April 13 onwards.
A CEB spokesperson said the request was made to protect the electricity system during the Sinhala and Tamil New Year holidays. Since the weather has been very sunny, solar panels have been producing a lot of electricity—at a time when people are using less power. This creates problems for the stability of the power grid.
CEB explained that when there is too much electricity from sources like solar, it puts pressure on the national grid. This makes it unstable and more likely to fail. Even a small issue could cause power cuts or even a full blackout.
The spokesperson said they could clearly see the effect of the public’s support through their monitoring system. "We can’t see which individual houses turned off their solar panels, but we saw a big improvement. There are 7 million rooftop solar users, and they understood the danger of having too much power in the system," he said.
CEB sent out another message yesterday, asking solar panel owners to disconnect their systems—but only if they receive a message from CEB, and only until 3 p.m. on the day mentioned in the message.
On April 11 and 12, electricity use dropped to just 1,550 megawatts in the mornings. On April 11, Norochchole Lakwijaya Coal Power Plant which generates 300 MW was shut down at 9:57 p.m. because there wasn’t enough demand. At the same time, the rise in solar power forced CEB to stop other big power plants like hydro and thermal ones, which are important for keeping the grid stable.
On April 12, CEB continued to take action. That morning, the Kelanitissa Combined Cycle Power Plant—the only oil-powered plant running overnight—was turned off at 9:16 a.m. to make space for solar power. This plant runs on naphtha, a type of fuel, and is usually used when other sources aren't enough.
These steps helped keep the power grid's inertia (the backup strength provided by traditional power plants) at 56%, which is enough to keep things stable. Without these actions, that number could have dropped to just 34%, which is very risky. At that level, even small problems could cause blackouts.
This shows how CEB’s quick decisions helped keep the electricity system safe and why continued help from the public is still needed during the rest of the New Year holidays.
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