Home ›› 31 May 2023 ›› Front
The meteorological department in its forecast says high temperature is likely to continue in the country throughout the month of June. In such situation, Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) is giving bad news about the country’s electricity generation.
Payra thermal power plant will remain shut during the month of June due to disruption of coal supply caused by dollar crisis. It is the only coal-fired power plant that is running in the country at full capacity (1320 MW).
Besides, crisis may deepen as Rampal and Barishal power plants also face a shortage of coal as well, said BPDB. This is why power outages are worsening across the country. In addition to villages, there are also reports on load-shedding in big cities. People in the capital Dhaka experienced load-shedding several times on Tuesday.
Public Relations Division of BPDB said on Tuesday due to energy shortage, power generation is being disrupted at all types of power plants. It is reported that electricity generation is less than day and night demand by about 2000 MW.
“The electricity demand has increased due to a rise in temperature. Efforts are being made to keep the situation normal in the cities by reducing electricity supply in villages. There will be more or less load-shedding throughout the month of June as the Payra power plant is going to shut down from June 2,’’ said Shamim Hassan, director of BPDB public relations division.
Big coal-fired power plants are likely to face closure as the stock of coal will run out soon, he said.
The Payra power plant has been built under the Bangladesh-China Power Company Limited (BCPCL), a joint venture between state-run NWPGCL and China’s state company CMC. It is learnt that around $2 billion was spent on building the plant, mostly came from Exim Bank of China.
According to the contract after project implementation, BPDB provides funds equivalent to three months of electricity bills to meet the operating costs because BPDB is the only electricity buyer. But BPDB expressed inability to provide this money due to their financial crisis after its operation started in December 2020.
In this situation, BCPCL’s partner CMC arranges funds to meet operational expenses at the request and mediation of project lender. BPDB said the money was to be paid to CMC in installments after 6 months of expenditure. According to that, they have provided about $400 million for operating expenses, including coal import in last 10 months, but they could not get any money.
BCPCL Managing Director Khorshedul Alam said within a few days, an arrangement will be made to pay CMC about $150 million. They have agreed to start importing coal again if this amount is paid. But after opening LC, it takes 25 days for the coal to reach the power plant. The plant will have to remain closed until that coal arrives.
The Rampal plant is being built under Bangladesh-India Friendship Power Company Limited (BIFPCL), a joint venture between BPDB and India’s National Thermal Power Company (NTPC).
BPDB is also the only power buyer of Rampal. The BPDB was supposed to provide co-pays for this plant along with operating expenses including coal import but even in this case BPDB expressed inability to provide this money. The sources said NTPC was then requested to finance the operational expenditure as a loan. But NTPC did not agree with it. As a result, coal imports to keep the plant running were initially uncertain.
However, BIFPCL retained about $59 million invested as equity by BPDB and NTPC, it was decided that the money will be used in meeting operational expenses including coal import. That is what is being done so far. But BPDB is not sure what will happen after this money is fully spent.
Due to BPDB’s financial strain, oil-based private power plants are also on the brink of deadlock. The owners of private power plants are not able to import fuel oil on time and as per requirements due to electricity bills remaining for almost 6 months.
