Sri Lanka's electricity generation decreased by 22.7 percent in April from January due to lower demand

Sri Lanka’s utility regulator, Public Utility Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL) said the power generation in the country from conventional methods declined over 22 percent in the first four months of the year as the COVID-19 pandemic situation prevailed, a statement from PUCSL said.

Sri Lanka’s total electricity generation excluding non-conventional electricity from solar, wind, mini-hydro & biomass, stood at 964,043 MWh in the month of April 2020, down 22.7 percent from 1,246,863 MWh in the month of January 2020, data submitted by Ceylon Electricity Board shows.

The reduction of the electricity generation in April 2020 may have caused due to lower demand of electricity as the industrial, hotel and manufacturing sectors halted operations temporarily during the pandemic situation of COVID 19 which led to an island-wide curfew, the PUCSL said.

The regulator noted that the generation of electricity in the month of April in every year usually shows a downturn due to the Sinhala – Tamil New Year. Sri Lanka generated 1,246,863 MWh of electricity in January, 1,228,279 MWh in February, 1,206,069 MWh in March and 964,043 MWh in April 2020.

Coal has contributed 41 percent for the total electricity generation in Jan – Apr 2020 while Major hydro has contributed 21 percent, and thermal oil has contributed 38 percent.

 Oil power plants operated by independent power producers or electricity generated by the private sector from thermal oil stood at 25 per cent from the total electricity generation from Jan to Apr 2020 while oil power plants operated by Ceylon Electricity Board generated 13 per cent for the same period, data shows. Maximum Night peak demand during the months of Jan-April 2020 was 2,717.50 MW on 11th of March 2020.