ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka’s solar power firms were promised a battery tariff of 46.80 rupees a unit in 2025, but the deadline has expired in December without the Ceylon Electricity Board issuing guidelines or contract amendments, an industry association said.
Instead of giving the battery tariff which is the solution to absorb more solar power to the system, solar energy is curtailed in the daytime leading to wasted energy and revenue losses which pushing some firms into a debt crisis,
Though a cabinet decision was made in June 2025, the CEB has not issued the necessary guidelines or the contract amendment (PPA amendment), the Grid Connected Solar Energy Association of Sri Lanka President Prabath Wicramasinghe said.
Though several reminders have been sent guidelines or the PPA has not been given, he said.
Batteries allow the firms to store energy in the daytime and deliver for the night peak.
If the guidelines are issued for a feed-in-tariff, it will take several months to set batteries up, Kishan Nanayakkara, Committee Member of the Grid Connected Solar Association said.
If tenders are called it may take longer, he said.
Meanwhile energy of solar firms are curtailed on holidays leading to loss of revenue for solar firms, making it difficult to repay debt. In January 2026 curtailment was extended to week days, the association said.
Since CEB started cutting solar power purchase from February 2025 following a cascading failure from a wild animal strike, the industry had lost around 15 percent of revenue (2 billion rupees) putting the more leveraged firms in trouble with banks, officials said.
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The CEB has to curtail solar power in the daytime to maintain grid stability as it does not have batteries or pump storage plants to store energy.
After the battery tariff of 45.80 rupees was announced Sri Lanka cut taxes on imports of equipment for battery energy storage systems, which may bring down costs.
A tender for large BESS plants by the CEB went at around 17 rupees (without energy). At the time 45.80 rupees was decided, there was no market price established by free competition.
It will be difficult for smaller solar plants to build batteries at the same costs, industry officials said.
But if a single large BESS is set up it may be possible to do so, but for anything the Ceylon Electricity Board must issue guidelines or call tenders, officials said. (Colombo/Jan22/2026)
