Power generation drops in April due to low demand

COLOMBO (News1st): Sri Lanka's electricity generation dropped by 21.4 percent in April when compared to the same month last year, due to low demand, the public utilities commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL) said. Power generation in April this year stood at 964,043 megawatt-hours (MWh) when compared to 1,227,000 MWh recorded during last year's April, central bank data showed. "The generation of electricity of the month of April in every year usually shows a downturn due to the Sinhala – Tamil new year," PUCSL said in a statement. It added that the demand may have dropped as the industrial, hotel, and manufacturing sectors halted operations during the lockdown style curfew due to COVID-19. Sri Lanka's power generation had declined for the third consecutive month after generation rates stood at 1,246,863 MWh in January, 1,228,279 MWh in February, and 1,206,069 MWh in April. Coal had contributed 41 percent for the total power generation during the first quarter of 2020, while hydro had contributed 21 percent, and thermal oil 38 percent, the PUCSL noted. It added that electricity generated using thermal oil by independent power producers stood at 25 percent during the first four months, while power plants operated by the Ceylon Electricity Board generated 13 percent.