Energy Minister Anura Karunathilake said the ministry expects to provide an uninterrupted power supply through the coming El Niño, with current estimates showing the only material impact will be a 127-hour reduction in hydropower generation that can be covered through alternative energy sources.
Karunathilake said there are no plans to impose power cuts as an energy-saving measure. A discussion with the President is scheduled for next week to assess the El Niño situation’s potential impact on the energy sector and determine necessary steps to address any challenges, he added.
The statement is the first quantified hydropower-impact estimate from the Energy Ministry since the Presidential Secretariat convened a multi-agency El Niño preparedness meeting on Wednesday, at which the President warned officials the coming event could mirror the 2016–17 cycle. That meeting brought together the Department of Meteorology, the Department of Irrigation, the Mahaweli Authority, the Disaster Management Centre, the Lanka Electricity Company and the National System Operator.
The Met Department has flagged a 30–35 percent rainfall deficit through July and August, conditions that historically threaten output at the Castlereigh and Maussakelle reservoirs — the head storages for the Wimalasurendra, Laxapana, New Laxapana, Canyon and Polpitiya hydropower stations. The DMC has begun publicly floating seawater desalination as a drinking-water contingency, and the Yala cultivation season was brought forward by about six weeks to compress water demand.
Karunathilake’s no-power-cuts assurance is the first explicit policy guidance from the Energy Ministry on whether rationing will be needed. The 127-hour figure implies roughly five days of nameplate hydropower output across the dry window, a gap the ministry expects to plug with thermal and renewable capacity rather than load shedding.
Sources: No Power Cuts Despite El Niño Situation – Energy Minister — NewsFirst, June 12.
