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CEB gives mini hydropower plants Sunday shut down orders
View(s):By Namini Wijedasa
The Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) has started ordering mini hydropower plants to curtail output on Sundays—when electricity consumption is low—in addition to solar power producers who have had to slash production on low-peak days since last month, companies confirmed this week.
Thirty mini hydro plants were requested to be shut down from 11a.m. to 2p.m. on March 2, 2025, said Thusitha Peiris, President of the Mini Hydropower Developers’ Association. Then, on March 9, the CEB gave instructions for the output of around 40 plants to be cut by 50 percent during the same window.
The Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL) said the CEB did not request approval for these unscheduled curtailments. And while the regulator has asked for more information, the utility has not provided it.
A spokesman confirmed that the contracts signed between the CEB and independent power producers do not have provisions for curtailments; and that there is currently no mechanism to compensate the developers.
The CEB started limiting output from these non-conventional energy sources after the countrywide power failure of February 9, 2025. While the initial breakdown was triggered by a disturbance in the Panadura grid substation, the CEB blamed the total collapse on vulnerabilities in the national grid caused by low system inertia arising from “high penetration of non-synchronous solar PV generation”.
At the time of the incident, over 50 percent of national electricity demand was met by 800MW of solar photovoltaic (PV) generation. The utility said among the measures it would take to prevent a recurrence was to curtail ground-mounted solar PV generation (“only when necessary”) during low-demand periods to mitigate instability risks. It did not mention mini hydro output.
The average tariff of mini hydropower plants is around Rs 8-9 per kilowatt hour (kWh), Mr. Peiris said. “So, the CEB is curtailing output from the most efficiently run, least-cost plants. What is the rationale? At the same time, the CEB’s wind power plants continued to operate.”
“The question we must ask the CEB is why it all started in February, after the blackout,” he said. “Everybody thought mini hydro will not be impacted as the CEB has considered it to be firm power which doesn’t fluctuate.”
There are around 230 mini hydro projects around the country producing 430MW. Mr. Peiris said those targeted for curtailment were in certain areas like Ratnapura and Badulla. As with solar power producers, instructions are given verbally over telephone on the morning of the same day.
Meanwhile, solar power curtailment is continuing with ground-mounted power producers being instructed—again, verbally—to drop production on Sundays. Sameera Ganegoda, President of the Grid Connected Solar Power Association, said certain developers were now recording these interruptions by sending letters to the CEB’s Power Purchase Department. “At least then we have some formal communication,” he pointed out.
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