Monday blackout due to human error – Dullas

Dullas Alahapperuma

Minister of Power Dullas Alahapperuma has told Cabinet yesterday (19) the reason for the nationwide blackout on Monday (17), was due to a mistake made by an official at Kerawalapitiya Grid Substation.

The Minister said the error led to the malfunctioning of the Grid Substation.

He informed the Cabinet that a report compiled by a committee under his purview to probe the incident would be handed over to him on 24 August. Alahapperuma also noted that similar blackouts had taken place on four previous occasions and stressed that he would brief the country regarding the recommendations that will be submitted to him by the committee, to prevent similar power outages in the future.

He added that repairs to Norochcholai Power Plant were continuing apace and the CEB is hopeful of restarting the plant by 24 August when it will add 600 megawatts to the National Grid.

He expressed hope that there would be no need for the scheduled islandwide power cuts to continue after 24 August.

(Source: Ceylon Today – By W.K. Prasad Manju)