Home ›› 21 Jul 2022 ›› Front
Two large coal-fired power plants in the country have failed to give hope amid reduced power generation due to gas and coal shortages resulting in 7-8 hours of load-shedding in eight districts of the northern region.
Due to coal shortage, power generation in Barapukuria plant has decreased at an alarming rate while Payra Coal-Fired Power Plant is producing 1,500MW less electricity than its installed capacity for coal crisis.
Again because of lack of transmission lines, the country’s biggest Payra Coal Power Plant has not been able to utilise its full potential after one and a half years since it went into operation.
Inefficiency of the Energy and Power Division has led the energy and power sector to this miserable condition, experts opined.
A senior official of the Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) told The Business Post that the government could not ensure the use of electricity generation at cheaper cost from coal and gas.
Barapukuria Plant in sorry state
Barapukuria Coal-Fired Power Plant in Dinajpur is the only power plant in the country running on its own coal.
The production capacity of it is 550MW. The authorities say one 125MW unit is already closed due to coal shortage and another unit of 125MW has been under repair for a long time.
The other 300MW unit is now in operation generating 200MW of electricity. The authorities fear that this unit may also be shut down this month due to lack of coal.
In 2018, Barapukuria plant was totally closed down due to lack of coal. At that time, the northern region had to face a severe power crisis.
Production in Barapukuria Coal Mine has been suspended since 30 April for underground phase development. The power plant has been running on stockpiled coal for three months.
Barapukuria Coal Mining Company Limited (BCMCL) said the phase change takes 45 to 60 days. But as Chinese companies cut their workforce from 1,100 to 520, the phase change is taking almost twice as long. Barapukuria Coal Power Plant Chief Engineer SM Wazed Ali Sardar told The Business Post that the power plant required 5,500 tonnes of coal to run at full capacity.
But what is in stock can last for 10 days. BCMCL wants to supply the coal in the first week of August. But the plants may be closed before that.
According to Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB), there are six power plants with a total capacity of 800MW electricity generation in eight districts of the northern region while the demand of the region is 1,300MW.
Two of these diesel-powered plants have been closed for a long time due to high cost. As a result, electricity is sent from Dhaka through the long transmission line but that too is now being disrupted for load-shedding.
An official of the Power Division said although the government wanted to set up power plants in North Bengal, private entrepreneurs have not showed much interest.
Summit Power got permission to set up a power plant in North Bengal. They lobbied it and took it to Barisal.
Payra Power Plant remains underutilised
Payra Coal-Fired Power Plant in Patuakhali, the country’s largest power station, is not generating electricity in line with its full capacity since its commissioning in December 2020 as the work of the transmission line has not been completed yet.
As a result, 660MW electricity is being produced from the 1320MW -plant. The price of coal in the world market has increased to $460. This was up to $130 last year.
In this situation, the cost of production has increased. Although the cost of generating electricity from coal is much lower. According to BPDB, the cost of power generation per unit is Tk8 at Barapukuria plant and Tk6.25 at Payra plant.
Two days ago, Prime Minister’s Power and Energy Advisor Tawfiq-E-Elahee Chowdhury told reporters that by September there would be no more electricity problems. By this time, S Alam, Rampal and Adani from India will begin to produce electricity. Although the construction of grid lines for power transmissions is still lagging far behind.
Energy expert Professor M Shamsul Alam told The Business Post that the solution to the electricity problem would not go as easily as expected by the government. As transmission lines are not running timely big power plants can do nothing. As a result, Rampal plant may have to sit idle like Payra plant.
