ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka’s renewable energy share dropped to 66 percent in July after spiking to 73 percent in June, as fuel oil use picked up amid a stronger demand for power, official data show.
In July 2025 electricity generation hit 1,583 GigaWatt hours, up 8.3 percent from a year ago, amid an economic recovery.
Total renewable energy was 1044 GWh, slightly down from 1,091 with Ceylon Electricity Baord’s large hydros contributing 628 GWh.
However, fuel oil usage surged to 103GWh in July, from just 24 in June, amid the higher demand.
Coal increased to 381 GWh from 359GWh.
The CEB has sought a tariff increase for the rest of 2025.
Sri Lanka is boosting renewable energy which also taking steps to protect the grid from intermittent renewables.
The utility is tendering for batteries and has also offered a 45.80 tariff for battery stored electricity supplied during the night peak. Storing solar power in batteries in daytime, helps reduce solar share off-peak and provide greater stability for the grid.
Sri Lanka has seen a strong economic recovery, driven by private sector amid monetary stability provided by the central bank.
Sri Lanka is recovering from a currency crisis and external default triggered potential output targeting (trying a jig macro-economic policy to get quick growth with state interventions such as rate cuts and tax cuts in a grand get-rich-quick scheme).
There are fears of macro-economic get-rick-quick schemes returning amid a push for higher state spending, despite having an already high debt number.
There are also increasing fears of a 5 percent inflation target agains de-stabilizing the credit system as it did after the nation ended a 30-year war. In 2025, there is insidious devaluation of the rupee, amid a record current account surplus. (Colombo/Oct08/2025)
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