2020 Sri Lankan blackouts

The 2020 Sri Lankan blackouts were a series of electrical blackouts that occurred on 17 August 2020, beginning around 12.30 pm SLST (UTC+5:30) and lasting over seven hours. The nationwide blackouts occurred due to a transmission technical failure at the Kerawalapitiya Grid-Sub station.[1][2][3] The Ceylon Electricity Board announced that the cause of the blackout had not yet been determined, describing it as an unspecified failure.[4][5] The Ministry of Power stated that a special committee had been appointed to investigate the root cause behind the blackout.[6]

Development

The outage caused disruption in day-to-day activities of the public, including causing traffic congestion in Colombo due to malfunctioning of traffic signals and malfunctioning water supply services.[7][8][9][10][11] Power was restored to the south of the island relatively early, due to it being powered by the Samanala Dam.[12]

Initially, a spokesperson of the Ministry of Power claimed that the outage occurred due to a failure in the Yugadanavi Power Plant.[13] The Minister of Power Dullas Alahapperuma later stated that the outage would be resolved within a space of two hours but the restoration process was delayed for hours due to cascading failures.[14] The power was restored in most parts of the country including Colombo at around 8.30 pm and was regarded as the worst nationwide blackout faced by the country since 2016.[15] The blackout further aggravated the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the country. The blackout did not disrupt Bandaranaike International Airport, the main airport of the country, which was closed for months due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Hospitals, offices and other infrastructure had backup power generators.[16]

Background

Sri Lanka's electricity demand is currently met by thermal power stations (54.59%), major hydroelectric power stations (33.50%), and wind farms (2.12%), small hydro facilities (8.01%) and other renewables such as solar (1.78%).[17] Sri Lanka as a whole faced major nationwide blackout during March 2016 which lasted for over eight hours.[18] Localised regional power cuts are common in Sri Lanka despite the rare occurrence of nationwide blackouts.

See also

References
  1. "Sri Lanka plunged into darkness as power outage hits entire nation". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 17 August 2020.
  2. "Island-wide Power Cut due to an issue in the transmission system". Sri Lanka News - Newsfirst. 17 August 2020. Retrieved 17 August 2020.
  3. "Electricity supply island-wide was disrupted". Daily News. Retrieved 17 August 2020.
  4. Vyshnavy (17 August 2020). "Electricity supply disrupted around the island | Colombo Gazette". Retrieved 17 August 2020.
  5. "Sri Lanka power grid in total cascading failure". EconomyNext. 17 August 2020. Retrieved 18 August 2020.
  6. Weerasooriya, Sahan. "Committee appointed to probe unexplained power cut". Retrieved 18 August 2020.
  7. Ferguson, Emily (17 August 2020). "Sri Lanka power cut: Entire country loses power due to huge error". Express.co.uk. Retrieved 17 August 2020.
  8. "Traffic lights out due to power outage; heavy traffic in Colombo". www.adaderana.lk. Retrieved 17 August 2020.
  9. "Island-wide Power Cut disrupts water supply to Colombo". Sri Lanka News - Newsfirst. 17 August 2020. Retrieved 17 August 2020.
  10. "Sri Lanka plunged into darkness as power outage hits entire nation". CNA. Retrieved 17 August 2020.
  11. "Sri Lanka faces nationwide blackout due to power failure - Xinhua | English.news.cn". www.xinhuanet.com. Retrieved 17 August 2020.
  12. "Sri Lanka in extended blackout as grid fails repeatedly – Update". EconomyNext. 17 August 2020. Retrieved 17 August 2020.
  13. Afp (18 August 2020). "Power outage hits entire Sri Lanka". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 18 August 2020.
  14. "All island power cut - to be restored within two hours". Hiru News. Retrieved 17 August 2020.
  15. "Sri Lanka Faces Nation-Wide Blackout After Power Failure". NDTV.com. Retrieved 18 August 2020.
  16. France-Presse, Agence (18 August 2020). "Whole of Sri Lanka hit by power blackout". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 18 August 2020.
  17. https://www.ceb.lk/front_img/img_reports/1595829840CEB_Annual_Report_2018.pdf
  18. AFP. "Lanka plunged into darkness as power outage hits entire nation". Khaleej Times. Retrieved 17 August 2020.
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