The present government has paid a total of Tk 1.04 lakh crore to 82 independent power producers and 32 rental power plants as capacity charge or rental payment during its three terms.
State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid disclosed this information on Tuesday in Parliament, reports UNB.
Replying to a tabled question of opposition Gonoforum MP Mokabbir Khan, Nasrul said that the Bangladesh-China Power Company was paid the highest—Tk 7,455 crore among the 82 independent producers while Aggreko International Projects was paid the highest Tk 2,341 crore among the 32 rental power plants.
The state minister placed a list of the names of 82 IPP power plants and 32 rental power plants and the amount of money paid to them.
Nasrul in his reply said that the significant terms of the agreements executed with the power plants against which the capacity charge has been paid are:
In his question, Mokabbir Khan wanted to know the amount of capacity charge the present government has paid to power plants during its three consecutive tenures.
The opposition MP also wanted to know the names of the owners of the power plants and the conditions of agreements with them.
According to the minister's information, the government paid capacity charges to 70 out of 82 IPP power plants.
“Since 2009 to June 30, 2023, Tk 76,242 crore has been paid to these power plants due to capacity charges,” Nasrul said.
In terms of receiving capacity charges, the top 10 IPP power plants are: Bangladesh-China Power Company (Tk 7455.31 crore ), Meghnaghat Power Ltd (Tk 5,475.12 crore) , Rural Power Co Ltd (Tk 4,004.08 crore), Summit Meghnaghat Power Ltd (Tk 3,644.39 crore), Sembcorp NWPC Ltd (Tk 2,823.66 crore), APR Energy (Tk 2788.04 crore), Summit Bibiana II Power Co Ltd (Tk 2,683.03 crore), Haripur Power Ltd (Tk 2,557.63 crore), United Ashuganj Energy Ltd (Tk 2,376.64 crore), and Bangla Trak Power Unit-1 Ltd (Tk 1,853.22 crore).
In case of rental power plants, the government repaid Tk 28,684.73 crore as capacity charge to 32 rental power plants.
In terms of receiving capacity charges, the top 10 (ten) IPP power plants are: Aggreko International Projects (Tk 2341.28 crore), KPCL (Unit-2) (Tk 1928.54 crore), Summit Narayanganj Power Ltd (Tk 1568.61 crore), Aggreko International Projects Ltd (Tk 1558.23 crore), Dutch Bangla Power and Associates Ltd (Tk 1530.09 crore), Acron Infrastructure Services Ltd (Tk 1,484.30 crore), Aggreko International Projects Ltd (Tk 1,439.19 crore), Desh Energy Siddhirganj (Tk 1,391.21 crore), Max Power Ltd (Tk 1306.34 crore) and Power Pack Mutiara Keraniganj (Tk 1,291.61 crore).
In response to the question of Habibur Rahman of Bogura-5, Nasrul said that the net loss of the Rural Power Development Board in the financial year 2022-23 was Tk 2,563 crore.
At this time, Desco’s net loss was Tk 226 crore 69 lakh.
In response to Kazim Uddin Ahmed's question, the state minister said that 2,656 megawatts of electricity are being imported from neighbouring India through six agreements.
In response to the question of M Abdul Latif, Nasrul said that currently the total power generation capacity in the country is 28,134 megawatts. Of this, 1,195 MW is being generated from renewable sources.
According to the Prime Minister's announcement, 40 per cent of electricity must be produced from renewable energy sources by 2041. For this, the power department has taken various projects under government and private initiative.
In response to another question of M Abdul Latif, Nasrul said that steps have been taken to dig 46 (exploration, development and work over) wells by 2025 to meet the growing demand of gas in the country.
