Colombo, April 17 -- The Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) said yesterday that many rooftop solar panel owners across the country gave a positive response by agreeing to turn off their systems during the daytime (until 3 p.m.) from April 13 onwards.

A CEB spokesperson said the request was made to protect the electricity system during the Sinhala and Tamil New Year holidays. Since the weather has been very sunny, solar panels have been producing a lot of electricity-at a time when people are using less power. This creates problems for the stability of the power grid.

CEB explained that when there is too much electricity from sources like solar, it puts pressure on the national grid. This makes it unstable and more likely to fail. Even a sma...