STELCO Discusses Measures to Strengthen Hulhumalé Phase II Power Network

Officials from State Electric Company Limited (STELCO) and Housing Development Corporation (HDC) have met to discuss long-term measures to strengthen the electricity network in Hulhumalé Phase II, following a major outage that left several residential towers without power for hours on Sunday.

Power cuts in the area have become increasingly frequent in recent years, with Sunday’s disruption affecting multiple Hiyaa and Vinares towers, including some of the largest housing blocks developed by the state. Several towers lost power at around 3:30pm, and full restoration took over eight hours, leaving residents without functioning lifts and exposed to high temperatures.

STELCO stated that the outage was caused by damage to one of the main cables supplying electricity to Phase II, likely during an excavation operation. In a statement issued on Monday, the company said discussions with HDC focused on measures to reduce the impact of such incidents and improve the resilience of the electricity grid.

Both parties discussed accelerating the installation of a Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition system in Phase II, which is expected to enable faster detection and resolution of network faults once operational.

They also reviewed ongoing repair work on the damaged main cable and highlighted the need for HDC to energise additional cables already laid by contractors for the Phase II network. STELCO noted that activating these cables would significantly reduce restoration times in the event of major cable failures.