Sri Lanka’s 22 million people hit by six-hour blackout as grid shuts down

Sri Lanka suffered a six-hour nationwide electricity blackout on Saturday after the national grid tripped, possibly because solar power generation exceeded consumption, officials said.

The country was without grid power from around noon until dusk, when supplies were restored in stages across the island of 22 million people, the state electricity authority said.

Energy Minister Anura Karunathilaka said the cause of the major breakdown was still under investigation, but engineers suspected an imbalance caused by high solar power generation while demand was muted on a weekend holiday.

The system was restored after authorities made repeated appeals to rooftop solar system owners to disconnect their systems to help stabilise the grid.

The entire grid shut down in February 2025, when solar power generation exceeded consumption on a bright, sunny Sunday. It took more than six hours to restore supplies at the time.

Sri Lanka has an installed solar power capacity of just over 3,000 megawatts, while daytime demand ranges from 2,000 to 2,500 megawatts.

Tax concessions have encouraged consumers to switch to solar and sell their surplus electricity to the grid, creating imbalances that the utility provider is struggling to manage.

The government aims to increase solar power generation capacity to nearly 4,400 megawatts within three years, a 388 percent increase from 2024.

AFP