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Emphasising effective demand-side load management and efficient use to solve the ongoing energy and power crisis, experts have said that it is possible to save 250-300 million cubic feet of gas per day by reducing the gas system loss from 10 per cent to 2 per cent within six to 12 months.
This will be an alternative to buying liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the spot market and provide more gas to the country’s industry, they said.
Experts feel that Petrobangla’s plan to add 618 MMcfd of gas by 2025 is too optimistic and it will only deepen the gas crisis during this period.
They urged the authorities to take the initiative to generate solar power in the medium-term in public and private places designated for coal-fired power plants.
They have also suggested exploration and extraction of oil, gas and coal under long-term programmes, construction of infrastructure for LNG import and purchase of LNG under long-term contracts to tackle the crisis.
The dependence on imported LNG will continue for some more time as there is no immediate possibility of gas exploration from the country’s offshore areas, the prime minister’s energy adviser Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury has said.
“So, the government has taken initiative to set up more floating storage and re-gasification units (FSRUs) across the country,” he told a webinar, organised by the Bangladesh Energy Society (BES), on Sunday in Dhaka.
FSRU is known as an LNG terminal used to import gas in liquefied form and then re-gasified there before releasing it to the local supply network.
The energy adviser said more sites are being selected in Payra of Patuakhali and Bhola to set up land-based LNG terminals in addition to the two existing FSRUs in Moheshkhali Island of Cox’s Bazar. He noted that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has already instructed officials to sign long-term deals to import more LNG.
Currently, Bangladesh has long term-contracts with Qatar and Oman to import LNG while it also buys liquefied gas from international spot markets on a short-term basis.
BES President and former principal secretary Abul Kalam Azad made a presentation at the virtual seminar, titled “Present Energy Crisis – Way Forward for Bangladesh,” which was also addressed by eminent energy expert Professor Mohammad Tamim, Bangladesh Solar and Renewable Energy Association (BSREA) President Dipal Barua, FBCCI’s Energy Standing Committee Chairman Humayun Rashid, Bangladesh Independent Power Producers Association (BIPPA) President Imran Karim, Summit Group Director Mohammed Faisal Karim Khan.
Former chairman of Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) and BES Vice-President ASM Alamgir Kabir presided over the event.
Tamim said it would not be wise to take a concrete decision depending on the current energy crisis as it may not continue for long.
“Rather, there should be short, medium and long term measures to ensure energy security of the country,” he opined. Dipal said that renewable energy could play a vital role in the current energy crisis. He mentioned that he came from his village home in Chattogram’s Raojan where there was no electricity from 8am to 12:30pm.
