Sri Lanka will not face an electricity crisis in the coming months despite the expected impact of El Niño, Energy Minister Anura Karunathilaka told Parliament on Friday, citing reservoir levels and an accelerated battery storage programme.
Reservoirs currently hold enough water to generate around 750 GWh of electricity — 58.7% of capacity as of 10 September — the Daily Mirror reported. The Meteorology Department has forecast increased rainfall across October, November and December, which the Minister said would let the government build reserves sufficient for about 1,000 GWh of hydroelectricity by early 2027.
“According to forecasts, January, February and March will be hotter. Therefore, it is important to have sufficient water capacity to generate 1,000 GWh by early next year,” he said.
Peak demand, currently around 3,000 MW, is expected to rise to about 3,350 MW in the first quarter of next year as temperatures climb.
The battery programme is being pulled forward
Karunathilaka said the Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) project, which will add 565 MW of storage to the national grid, is being expedited.
“We will establish 160 MW of battery storage next month. The tender for 250 MW has already closed, while a tender for another 150 MW will be opened on September 24. We aim to expedite the entire process before March next year,” he said.
Those three tranches — 160, 250 and 150 MW — total 560 MW, marginally short of the 565 MW figure the Minister gave for the full programme.
In the same sitting, he said the government is preparing to grant systematic concessions on batteries used for renewable energy storage, starting with systems above 100 kW, the Daily FT reported. Discussions had recently been held with the President and a framework is being developed.
He attached a warning to it. Sri Lanka has no quality standards for battery systems: “If we open this without a quality system, then batteries of sub-standard quality will be brought into Sri Lanka. It is important to prevent this and work towards introducing the quality system soon.”
The renewables numbers do not add up as stated
Karunathilaka told Parliament that between 60% and 70% of generation now comes from renewable sources, the Daily FT reported. He then itemised it: rooftop solar around 2,500 MW, ground-mounted solar 530 MW and wind over 250 MW, “amounting to more than 40% of total electricity generation.”
The two figures are not the same claim, and neither account reconciles them. The larger number most plausibly includes hydro, which the itemised list omits; but as reported, the Minister gave two different shares in consecutive sentences.
He acknowledged continuing obstacles in the sector — delays in solar approvals, difficulty obtaining land, and connecting new generation to the grid.
Coal and tariffs
Coal procurement requirements for 2026 and 2027 have been finalised, the Minister said, with the first shipment due to arrive on 16 September. That follows the coal stock shortage at Norochcholai he addressed on 3 September, when he first ruled out power cuts.
Both newsrooms carry his statement that generation costs have fallen on stronger hydro output and that the government does not expect to seek an electricity tariff increase for the next quarter — the assurance reported separately on 11 September. Tariffs are set by the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka on an application from the Ceylon Electricity Board, so the statement describes what the CEB intends to ask for rather than what will be approved.
Three reservoir figures, three denominators
The 58.7% figure is the third reservoir number put into the public record in six days, and none of the three reconciles with the others:
| Figure | Date | Source | What it measures |
|---|---|---|---|
| 34.3% of effective capacity | 6 September | Irrigation Department Water Management Branch | Major reservoirs nationally |
| 55% | 11 September | Agriculture Minister K.D. Lal Kantha, in Parliament | Irrigation Department and Mahaweli Authority reservoirs |
| 58.7% of capacity (750 GWh) | 10 September | Energy Minister Karunathilaka, in Parliament | Hydropower storage, stated as generable energy |
The sets differ — irrigation tanks in the dry zone are managed separately from the central-highland hydro reservoirs — and so do the denominators, effective capacity against gross. That plausibly explains the spread. But no minister or department has stated which basis they are using, and two of the three figures were given in the same chamber a day apart.
Not reported
Neither newsroom names the MP who raised the question. Neither gives the hydro share of current generation, the reservoirs included in the 58.7%, or the comparable figure a year ago. Neither says where the 160 MW arriving next month will be sited, who won the closed 250 MW tender, or what the programme costs.
Nor does either report say when the battery concessions take effect, what form they take — duty waiver, tax relief or tariff — or who administers them, and neither reports any timetable for the quality standards the Minister said do not yet exist.
A note on the name: the Daily Mirror writes the Minister as Anura Karunathilaka, the Daily FT as Aruna Karunathilake. The surname is stable; the given name is not settled across outlets.
