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In a major shake-up in its energy policy, the government is planning to increase the use of gas as fuel rather than coal to produce electricity as the global lenders are reluctant to finance coal-fired power plants for environmental concern.
Over the years the globally outcry of green campaigners is up and doing its best to stop funding for coal-fired power plants considered detrimental to the ecosystem.
In a recent development, the authority cancelled 10 coal-based power plants having 8,451-megawatt power-generation capacity for environmental concern.
On the other hand, 15-22 coal-fired power plants got approval in between 2011 and 2012 while many of them did not make any progress because of dilly-dallying by lenders.
Leading global lenders including Japanese mega conglomerate Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc and Asian Development Bank (ADB) have already declared that they would halt new financing for all coal-fired power plants and no longer finance coal mining.
According to an ADB statement, from 2001 to 2017, the global lender injected $4 billion dollar in gas and power sector.
The Group of Seven (G7) nations along with several other European countries have committed to stopinternational financing for the coal-based power projects by the end of 2021 to limit global warming to 1.5-2.0°C.
The constant downturn of the price of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) and hardware of renewable energyin the global market also encouraged the Bangladesh officials to venture into more LNG-based power plants by ditching some mega coal-fired power plants.
On June 27, the government finally cancelled 10 coal-fired power plants with a combined generation capacity of 8,451-megawatt electricity on the grounds of environmental concern.
“Being a signatory to the Paris Climate Agreement, it is essential for us to generate electricity through more environmentally friendly sources,’’ State Minister for Power and Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid said.
Mohammad Hossain, managing director of Power Cell, said the government is now reviewing the existing Power System Master Plan to reduce dependency on the coal-fired power plants, which were supposed to generate 35 per cent of electricity by 2030.
The new master plan will emphasize LNG-based power plants and renewable energy.
According to an earlier projection made in Power System Master Plan,there are 29 coal-fired power plants in the pipeline with a capacity to produce over 33-gigawatt electricity.
Asking not to be named, a power division official said:“There is an increasing pressure from green campaigners to the donor agencies to suspend funding to coal-based power plants.”
“China and Japan have already startedturning their back on the coal-fired power plants which also forced us scrap some China and Japan-funded coal-fired power plants.”
In the revised master plan, green energy and LNG-fired power plants would be prioritisedsince coal is detrimental to environment, according to the Power Cell managing director.
“The price of LNG is coming down in the international market which also encourages us to set up more gas-fired power plants in the country,” he added.
Being a signatory to the Paris climate agreement, Bangladesh is committed to reducing carbon emission.
The falling price of hardware of solar power and LNG price is a blessing for the country when it comes to producing green energy from LNG-based power plants instead of that from coal-fired ones.
Bangladesh is looking to source 40 per cent of electricity from renewable energy by 2041, a step forward to “Go Green” in the power sector.
Govt to convert some coal-based power plants into LNG based
After scrapping 10 coal-fired power plants, the government is now in contact with the sponsors to convert at least five coal-fired power plants into LNGbasedwith a combined 5,175-megawattpower generation capacity.
The five arePatuakhali 1,320-megawatt power plant of Ashuganj Power Station Company Ltd, Moheshkhali 1,320-megawatt ultra-supercritical coal-fired thermal power plant of state-run Bangladesh Power Development Board, 1,200-megawatt ultra-supercritical coal-fired power plant.
It is a joint venture of Japanese Sumitomo and state-run Coal Power Generation Company Bangladesh Ltd, 700-megawatt Bangladesh-Singapore coal-fired power plant and Gazaria 635-megawatt power plant.
Power Development Board Chairman Engineer BelayetHossain said: “As part of reducing dependency on coal-fired power, thegovernment is also looking into option to transform some coal-fired power plants into LNG based since those coal-based plants failed to make any headway since their approval in 2012-2018.”
Asked about why Bangladesh signed up more coal-based power plants in its earlier planning, an official of the Power Development Board said on the condition of anonymity that, “Theypreferred coal-fired power plants over gas and renewable energy as coal was cheaper than gas at that time.”
“On top of that our gas reserve is depleting fast and coal was a better option at that time, but changing energy landscape forced us to review the mixture of energy sources.”
Amount of electricity from coal
According to the Power Development Board, the country’s electricity generation capacity stood at 21,395
megawatt, and 50 per cent of electricity which is 10,869 megawatt comes from gas-fired power plants,while less than 10 per cent which is 1,768 megawatt comes from coal. Finally, liquid fuel contributesto about 30 per cent of electricity.
What green campaigners say
Green campaigners welcomed the policy of preferring LNG-based power plants to coal-fired ones.
Syeda Rizwana Hasan, chief executive of Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association, said: “Coal and LNG both are fossil fuel, but LNG is more environmentally friendly as we don’t have the stake of bearing bi-product of producing LNG.”
“Being a climate-vulnerable country, we should explore renewable energy sources.
“Bangladesh should grab the opportunity of the declining price of the hardware of renewable energy sources,” she added.
