විදුලි පද්ධතිය සවස 6:30 වන විට යථා තත්ත්වයට - ජාතික පද්ධති ක්රියාකරු (NSO)
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An islandwide power failure disrupted electricity supply across Sri Lanka on Saturday, October 17. Lankadeepa reported interruptions at about 11:45 a.m.; the National System Operator (NSO) later described a total system failure linked to instability in the grid. The reports do not specify when the outage began in every area.
The NSO said it was restoring supply in stages, using hydropower plants that had been operating before the grid failure. It reported that electricity was returning area by area from around noon. Ada Derana’s Tamil report said supply had resumed in about half of affected areas at the time of its update. The NSO expected full restoration by around 6:30 p.m., according to Newswire and Newsfirst; the Daily Mirror subsequently reported that the transmission system had been fully restored.
The NSO rejected reports that multiple power stations had broken down. It said operational hydropower plants remained available and that the Norochcholai coal plant had shut down under standard procedures after the grid failure, rather than because of a mechanical fault. The operator and Energy Minister Anura Karunathilaka asked rooftop solar owners to switch off their systems while restoration work continued.
The exact cause had not been established. Karunathilaka said investigators were examining a technical problem at a Kotmale facility on Friday, October 16, as one possible contributing factor. The Sunday Times headline also raised a suspected Upper Kotmale plant failure, while Colombo Telegraph said early indications pointed to possible Kotmale-related issues and high rooftop-solar output alongside lower weekend demand. Colombo Telegraph further reported that major water-treatment plants temporarily stopped operating during the outage. These explanations remain preliminary; the NSO said no generating-plant breakdowns had been reported.
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.