Sri Lanka’s National System Control Centre says there is no observed risk of a power cut in the near future, despite a decline in hydropower generation caused by the prevailing dry weather.
Buddhika Sanjeewa Samarasinghe, Director of the National System Control Centre, said a special discussion on power generation and the stability of the energy system in the coming months would be held on Friday under the leadership of the President.
The President’s Media Division said authorities involved in the energy distribution and management process have been summoned to that meeting.
Responsibility for operating the national system centre was assigned to the National System Control Centre following the restructuring of the Ceylon Electricity Board.
Context
Hydropower is the swing component of Sri Lanka’s generation mix: when reservoir inflows fall, the shortfall has to be covered by thermal plants running on imported fuel and coal, which is both costlier and more exposed to exchange-rate movements. A drop in hydro output therefore shows up first as a cost problem and only later as a supply problem — which is consistent with the system operator’s assurance that reliability is not currently at risk.
The timing is not incidental. Officials warned this week that the developing El Niño event could strengthen considerably, with severe dry weather expected through August and September before heavier rainfall returns towards the end of the year. The Irrigation Department has put reservoirs at 42% of capacity, and the minister responsible has separately ruled out drinking water cuts over the next three months.
That dry outlook sits alongside heavy monsoon rain in the south-west — a contrast typical of Sri Lanka’s two-zone rainfall pattern, in which the wet zone receives south-west monsoon rain while the dry-zone catchments that feed the largest reservoirs wait for the north-east monsoon later in the year.
