Death knell to local renewable energy industry

THE local renewable energy developers, who supply approximately 3,300 MW capacity of clean, green electricity to the national electricity grid, on Wednesday warned that the entire local renewable energy industry is at risk of collapse due to the actions currently followed by the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) and the proposed new National Electricity Policy (2025).

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The main critical issues pointed out by the Grid Connected Solar Power Association are as follows:

1. Unilateral power curtailment and financial loss:

For over 9 months (since February 2025), the CEB has been arbitrarily curtailing the power generation of all large renewable power plants on weekends and public holidays. Although the CEB portrays this as an “Emergency,” an event occurring every weekend for 9 months cannot be considered an emergency.

The financial loss caused to the industry due to this curtailment is approximately Rs. 2 billion. Specifically, the monthly income of ground-mounted solar power plant owners has dropped by approximately 15%.

Although these power plants belong to the “Must Run” (compulsory operation) category according to Power Purchase Agreements (PPA), the CEB is unilaterally violating these contract conditions.

2. Delay in approval for battery energy storage systems (BESS):

Local investors and operating renewable energy developers are ready to install Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) to store the excess electricity curtailed during the day and release it during the night peak demand time (18:30-22:30).