Electricity Distribution Lanka (Pvt) Ltd has launched an online facility letting customers check whether their nearest transformer has spare capacity for a rooftop solar system before they apply to install one.
Until now, an applicant could only find out whether the transformer serving their area could absorb the extra generation after submitting an application — a sequence that produced delays and rejected applications, the Daily Mirror reported.
The utility, a successor entity to the Ceylon Electricity Board, introduced the system on the direction of the Ministry of Energy. Customers can now look up the remaining capacity of their nearest transformer from home before starting an application.
The service is at edlcare.edl.lk/incognito/solar-pv-substation-status.
A partial rollout
The facility currently covers only transformers that are fitted with meters. A programme to meter the remaining transformers is under way, which the utility says will progressively widen the portal’s coverage.
The filing does not say what share of the distribution network is metered today, how many transformers remain, or when the work is expected to finish — so a customer whose transformer is not yet metered has no stated timeline.
Context
Transformer headroom has become the binding constraint on Sri Lanka’s rooftop solar expansion, with distribution-level capacity rather than demand determining where new systems can connect. The portal does not create capacity; it makes the existing constraint visible earlier in the process.
The launch follows the government’s shift from net metering to a “net plus” arrangement for rooftop solar customers, announced this week.
