Bangladesh to be 100% electrified from today

The country’s first coal-fired power plant Payra will be officially launched today (Monday).

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will inaugurate the 1,320-megawatt power plant. On this day, the premier will declare 100 per cent electrification of the country.

Payra in Patuakhali is going to be a major economic hub with a seaport, a special economic zone and an airport.

The government says the southern part of the country will see a paradigm shift following the infrastructure development.

According to the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources, thousands of jobs will be created as the physical work of the mega projects is in progress.

Eventually, the economic zone will raise the country’s GDP by 2 per cent. The authorities expect to supply about 80-85 per cent of the plant’s electricity to the southern region of the country.

Bangladesh-China Power Company Limited (BCPCL) built the Payra Power Plant on 982.77 acres of land at a cost of around Tk 20,000 crore or $ 2.46 billion.

Of the amount, $ 1.96 billion was lent by the Export-Import Bank of China. The company started working in 2016.

The plant’s first unit was connected to the national grid on May 15, 2020 while the second one started production on December 8 the same year.

The authority said a 163-kilometre transmission line connects the plant to a Gopalganj grid while another 85-kilometre line is under construction from Gopalganj to Dhaka’s Amin Bazar.

According to officials, the plant will operate in full swing once the 440kV transmission line is established through the Padma River, which may take a year. The two-unit plant, each with 660-megawatt capacity, is already connected to the national grid in Gopalganj.

The power plant is burning some 13,000 metric tonnes of coal a day, generating 180 metric tonnes of fly and bottom ash as byproducts.

BCPCL said the plant has a 76.30-acre dumping zone where 25 years’ worth of byproduct can be kept.

The plant is currently importing coal from Indonesia and Australia.

It has its own jetty whose conveyor belts can unload 3,200 metric tonnes of coal every hour from four vessels at the same time.

Bangladesh’s power generation capacity reached 25,514 megawatt from just 4,942 megawatt in 2009, according to data. In 2013, the government planned to build a coal terminal, airport, special economic zone, rail connectivity, shipyard, liquid bulk terminal and LNG terminal in Payra-Dhankhali area of Kalapara, Patuakhali. It is implementing four projects related to the port at a cost of Tk 15,863 crore. The physical establishments of the port have made 80 per cent progress.

The construction of the main infrastructure of the port, a four-lane road, dredging on the internal naval routes, warehouse, six ships, housing, and health facilities for officials is almost done.

According to the plan, the government will produce 12,000 megawatt of electricity in Payra, including another 1,320 megawatt coal-fired plant and several other plants that will run on LNG and renewables.