Report reveals what caused nationwide power outage on the 17th

Lankadeepa, Ada Derana and Sri Lanka Mirror report that the National System Operator (NSO) provided the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL) with an initial investigation account of the sudden island-wide outage on the 17th. Ada Derana identifies the date as October 17.

Sri Lanka Mirror reports that at approximately 11:43 a.m., 187 megawatts from the first generating unit at the Lakvijaya Power Plant in Norochcholai was lost in 450 milliseconds. According to the report, system frequency then fell to 48.75 hertz, and the power network collapsed 4.1 seconds after the event.

Sri Lanka Mirror reports that all five stages of the Under Frequency Load Shedding mechanism operated, disconnecting 449.2 MW. The report says that amount equalled 39.6% of the 1,135 MW generated before the collapse, but did not avert the system failure. It also reports that protection systems triggered shutdowns at Norochcholai and at the Victoria, Kotmale, Randenigala, Samanalawewa and Lakshapana plants, as well as other hydropower stations.

Sri Lanka Mirror reports that the NSO began restoring the system straight after the collapse and needed five hours and 15 minutes to recover the transmission network. The report says work began using four main systems: Kotmale and Victoria in the Mahaweli system; New Laxapana and Wimalasurendra in the Laxapana system; Samanalawewa and Kukule Ganga in the Samanalawewa/Southern system; and Kelanitissa. The supplied account does not give more detail about the fourth system.

Written automatically by AI from the outlets’ own reports, and not reviewed by an editor. It can be wrong — the original report is the authority.