A better year for power sector

With significant movement towards implementing large power plant projects and a 1,229 MW increase in power generation capacity, 2015 has seen marked progress in the power sector as compared to yesteryear.
Experts said 2015 has been different in that the government did not drag its feet on what it had been promising since 2009 and went ahead with mega power projects. The year has ended with signing of Bangladesh’s biggest-ever $12.65bn investment proposal for the construction of Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant (NPP). The Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission and Russian company Atomstroyexport signed the general contract for construction of the NPP on December 25.
Speaking on the occasion, Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhit said, “A very old dream has been realised today. I was a young government employee when then Pakistan first thought of having a NPP in Rooppur in 1960.” As per the contract, Russia will complete two units of Rooppur NPP by 2024. Completion of two units will add 2,200 MW of electricity to the national grid.
In addition to Rooppur NPP, coal-based power plant projects including Matarbari, Paira and the controversial Rampal have also seen considerable movement this year.
Singapore-based Sembcorp on December 10 signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with state-owned Coal Power Generation Company Bangladesh Limited (CPGCBL) to build a 700MW power plant at Matarbari in Cox’s Bazar. According to the MoU, Sembcorp will set up the power plant, jetty for coal import, coal storage facilities, electrification and transmission facilities, roadways and a township. To be implemented on a 50:50 equity basis, the project is scheduled to be completed by December 2022.
Bangladesh and China on October 13 set up Bangladesh-China Power Company (Pvt.) Ltd. (BCPCL), a special purpose vehicle for implementation of the 1,320 MW Payra coal-fired power plant. The tender for engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for the project has been floated and the process of appointing an EPC contractor is in its final stage. If everything goes as per schedule, the plant will start generating electricity in 2019.
Despite protests from various quarters, the controversial 1,320 MW coal-based Rampal Power Plant near the world heritage site of Sunderban is being implemented by Bangladesh-India Friendship Power Company (BIFPCL) and 3 per cent of the project work has already been completed. Out of 1,829 acre land acquired for the project, land filling has been completed in 420 acre. A temporary jetty and a building to house project officials have also been constructed. Meanwhile, a tender for the project’s EPC contract has been released and a total of six aspirants have sent in their bids for perusal.
Apart from mega power projects having been set in motion, the country’s power generation capacity has also increased by 1,229 MW in the last one year. With this, total installed power generation capacity has reached 11,877 MW, up from the previous year’s 10,648 MW. Daily generation is now about 118.57 million kilowatt hours (unit) as against 102.75 million kilowatt hours (unit) of the previous year.
With the onset of winter, the country has been generating between 6,700 MW and 6,750 MW of power during evening peak hours in response to demand. As a result, there has been no official load-shedding or power shortage across the country. However, there are reports of power disruption or power cut on the supply side due to limitations in transmission and distribution capacity.
Energy expert Prof Dr Ijaj Hossain said, “It is true that the government has made significant improvement on the generation side. Now, it is time to concentrate on the supply side.”
 The BUET professor said the transmission network of the country is still old and vulnerable. “That’s why incidents like the November 1 blackout happened in 2014. That was a wake-up call in the power sector. I think the government should start focusing on the transmission and distribution network now,” he added.
Going by official statistics, however, shortage of gas supply has been the biggest bottleneck in power generation due to which the government has had to shut many of its generation units with the result that it has been unable to generate 872 MW power. Last year, the government was unable to generate 837 MW power owing to the same reasons.
Presently, the government has put a substantial number of generation units on maintenance, the total capacity of which is 2,264 MW as against 1,865 MW last year. Officials from the power division said these generation units have been put on maintenance programmes to keep them in full operation in summer.
Department of Mineral and Petroleum Engineering Prof Dr M Tamim told The Independent that there is no doubt that the power sector has seen some developments this year. “A total of 1,229 MW has been added to the national grid and obviously, this is good news. But the question is out of that amount, how much is being generated from gas? I think it’s around 400 MW. And the rest is from oil.”

 

 

 

A better year for power sector

With significant movement towards implementing large power plant projects and a 1,229 MW increase in power generation capacity, 2015 has seen marked progress in the power sector as compared to yesteryear. Experts said 2015 has been different in that the government did not drag its feet on what it had been promising since 2009 and went ahead with mega power projects. The year has ended with signing of Bangladeshs biggest-ever $12.65bn investment proposal for the construction of Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant (NPP). The Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission and Russian company Atomstroyexport signed the general contract for construction of the NPP on December 25. Speaking on the occasion, Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhit said, A very old dream has been realised today. I was a young government employee when then Pakistan first thought of having a NPP in Rooppur in 1960. As per the contract, Russia will complete two units of Rooppur NPP by 2024. Completion of two units will add 2,200 MW of electricity to the national grid. In addition to Rooppur NPP, coal-based power plant projects including Matarbari, Paira and the controversial Rampal have also seen considerable movement this year. Singapore-based Sembcorp on December 10 signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with state-owned Coal Power Generation Company Bangladesh Limited (CPGCBL) to build a 700MW power plant at Matarbari in Coxs Bazar. According to the MoU, Sembcorp will set up the power plant, jetty for coal import, coal storage facilities, electrification and transmission facilities, roadways and a township. To be implemented on a 50:50 equity basis, the project is scheduled to be completed by December 2022. Bangladesh and China on October 13 set up Bangladesh-China Power Company (Pvt.) Ltd. (BCPCL), a special purpose vehicle for implementation of the 1,320 MW Payra coal-fired power plant. The tender for engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for the project has been floated and the process of appointing an EPC contractor is in its final stage. If everything goes as per schedule, the plant will start generating electricity in 2019. Despite protests from various quarters, the controversial 1,320 MW coal-based Rampal Power Plant near the world heritage site of Sunderban is being implemented by Bangladesh-India Friendship Power Company (BIFPCL) and 3 per cent of the project work has already been completed. Out of 1,829 acre land acquired for the project, land filling has been completed in 420 acre. A temporary jetty and a building to house project officials have also been constructed. Meanwhile, a tender for the projects EPC contract has been released and a total of six aspirants have sent in their bids for perusal. Apart from mega power projects having been set in motion, the countrys power generation capacity has also increased by 1,229 MW in the last one year. With this, total installed power generation capacity has reached 11,877 MW, up from the previous years 10,648 MW. Daily generation is now about 118.57 million kilowatt hours (unit) as against 102.75 million kilowatt hours (unit) of the previous year. With the onset of winter, the country has been generating between 6,700 MW and 6,750 MW of power during evening peak hours in response to demand. As a result, there has been no official load-shedding or power shortage across the country. However, there are reports of power disruption or power cut on the supply side due to limitations in transmission and distribution capacity. Energy expert Prof Dr Ijaj Hossain said, It is true that the government has made significant improvement on the generation side. Now, it is time to concentrate on the supply side. The BUET professor said the transmission network of the country is still old and vulnerable. Thats why incidents like the November 1 blackout happened in 2014. That was a wake-up call in the power sector. I think the government should start focusing on the transmission and distribution network now, he added. Going by official statistics, however, shortage of gas supply has been the biggest bottleneck in power generation due to which the government has had to shut many of its generation units with the result that it has been unable to generate 872 MW power. Last year, the government was unable to generate 837 MW power owing to the same reasons. Presently, the government has put a substantial number of generation units on maintenance, the total capacity of which is 2,264 MW as against 1,865 MW last year. Officials from the power division said these generation units have been put on maintenance programmes to keep them in full operation in summer. Department of Mineral and Petroleum Engineering Prof Dr M Tamim told The Independent that there is no doubt that the power sector has seen some developments this year. A total of 1,229 MW has been added to the national grid and obviously, this is good news. But the question is out of that amount, how much is being generated from gas? I think its around 400 MW. And the rest is from oil.