Sri Lanka nationwide blackout: grid trips as solar output tops demand, rooftop owners told to switch off

Sri Lanka's entire national grid went down on Saturday 17 October, leaving the island without mains power for more than two hours by late afternoon, AFP reported via Business Recorder. There was no firm time for full restoration.

The state-run utility, Electricity Distribution Lanka, said engineers were working on a fault that affected the whole grid and that it suspected solar generation had exceeded consumption, tripping the system.

Rooftop solar owners asked to disconnect

Energy Minister Anura Karunathilaka asked households and businesses with rooftop panels to take them off the grid while power is brought back: "We request rooftop solar system owners to disconnect their systems until further instructions." He said supply would be restored "stage by stage".

Why too much sunshine can black out a country

A grid has to balance supply and demand every second. Sri Lanka now has just over 3,000 MW of installed solar capacity, while its daytime demand runs at 2,000 to 2,500 MW, according to AFP. On a sunny day with low demand, such as a weekend, panels can push more power into the network than it can absorb, and protective systems shut it down.

Tax concessions encouraged Sri Lankans to install panels and sell surplus power to the grid, and the government wants close to 4,400 MW of solar within three years, a 388% rise on 2024. The utility has struggled to manage that growth. The grid failed the same way in February 2025, on a sunny Sunday, and took more than six hours to restore.

Why readers in Pakistan should watch this

Rooftop solar has spread fast in Pakistan too, and many households sell their surplus to the grid through net metering. Sri Lanka shows what can happen to a national network when daytime solar outgrows demand.

If you are weighing panels for your own home, our solar payback calculator and solar panel calculator work out the system size and how long it takes to pay for itself, using the current solar panel price per watt.

The Sri Lankan cricket team is in Pakistan for the ODI tri-series, which starts against Pakistan in Rawalpindi on Sunday.