Load shedding hits 9-year high

Worst power crisis adds to heat woes

The worst power crisis in nine years, coupled with heat waves sweeping across the country for the last six days, has made life unbearable for the people. 
Sources in the power sector told the Independent that the power crisis will continue till the arrival of the first drops of monsoon rain. The demand for electricity has skyrocketed very quickly, breaking the prediction made by the Power System Master Plan (PSMP). 
Nasrul Hamid, state minister for power and energy, posted on his facebook account that the demand of power is 12,000MW this year, which is well past the 10300MW predicted by the PSMP. 
“The power situation is not going to improve significantly  this year,” an official of the Power Division, pleading anonymity, told The Independent yesterday.
For the last few days, power outage at peak hours has amounted to 2,000–3,200MW every day.  The website of the Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) shows that the country has been experiencing the worst spell of load-shedding in the last  nine years. This is in stark contrast to the previous year, when the government celebrated the generation of 15,000MW of power in the country.
According to BPDB website, on May 24, 2010, the highest generation of power was 4356MW,  and load shedding was 743 MW; on 24 May ,2011, the highest generation was 4837MW and the load shedding was 707MW; in May, 2012 the highest generation was 5782MW; on 24 May, 2013, the highest generation was 5366MW; on 24 May, 2014, the highest generation was 5705MW and load shedding was 140MW; on 24 May, 2015, the highest generation was 7394, on 24 May, 2016, the highest  generation was 7878MW and load shedding was 252MW. On May 24, BPDB website showed that the load shedding figure was 979 MW.  But the experts believe that this is not the accurate figure of load shedding. According to them it would be between 2000MW to 3000MW.

“The calculation is very simple. The captive power is more than 2,000MW from outside which is not connected with the national grid. But within the grid, it is not possible to generate 950MW of electricity out of the total amount owing to gas shortage. Besides, some private companies, such as Summit, require 1,200MW of electricity to maintain their plants,” said Abul Baser Khan, member of the power generation department of the BPDB. 
“Not only are we able to generate 1,400MW of power in the Asuganj zone, but we can also inject 1,200MW of power in the grid as the Asuganj–Shirajganj grid line is under maintenance. Some accidents have happened this year and they are beyond our hand. We hope that the BPDB will able to generate 10,000MW of power from the next week and accordingly the situation will improve,” he added.
The official told the Independent that as per the schedule, the Summit Bibiyana 240MW and the Asugonj 360MW plants will come into generation by tomorrow (26 may), while the 450MW Meghnaghat plant will start power generation on 28 may. This is likely to provide some comfort to the people, he added.
Khan also said that the recent heat waves are adding to the woe of power cuts.
The tremendous heat spell and power cuts have thrown normal life out of gear. No respite from the heat is imminent in the next two days as the chances of rainfall are slim. Day and night temperatures may remain nearly unchanged across the country.

Load shedding hits 9-year high

Worst power crisis adds to heat woes

The worst power crisis in nine years, coupled with heat waves sweeping across the country for the last six days, has made life unbearable for the people. Sources in the power sector told the Independent that the power crisis will continue till the arrival of the first drops of monsoon rain. The demand for electricity has skyrocketed very quickly, breaking the prediction made by the Power System Master Plan (PSMP). Nasrul Hamid, state minister for power and energy, posted on his facebook account that the demand of power is 12,000MW this year, which is well past the 10300MW predicted by the PSMP. The power situation is not going to improve significantly this year, an official of the Power Division, pleading anonymity, told The Independent yesterday. For the last few days, power outage at peak hours has amounted to 2,0003,200MW every day. The website of the Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) shows that the country has been experiencing the worst spell of load-shedding in the last nine years. This is in stark contrast to the previous year, when the government celebrated the generation of 15,000MW of power in the country. According to BPDB website, on May 24, 2010, the highest generation of power was 4356MW, and load shedding was 743 MW; on 24 May ,2011, the highest generation was 4837MW and the load shedding was 707MW; in May, 2012 the highest generation was 5782MW; on 24 May, 2013, the highest generation was 5366MW; on 24 May, 2014, the highest generation was 5705MW and load shedding was 140MW; on 24 May, 2015, the highest generation was 7394, on 24 May, 2016, the highest generationwas 7878MW and load shedding was 252MW. On May 24, BPDB website showed that the load shedding figure was 979 MW. But the experts believe that this is not the accurate figure of load shedding. According to them it would be between 2000MW to 3000MW. The calculation is very simple. The captive power is more than 2,000MW from outside which is not connected with the national grid. But within the grid, it is not possible to generate 950MW of electricity out of the total amount owing to gas shortage. Besides, some private companies, such as Summit, require 1,200MW of electricity to maintain their plants, said Abul Baser Khan, member of the power generation department of the BPDB. Not only are we able to generate 1,400MW of power in the Asuganj zone, but we can also inject 1,200MW of power in the grid as the AsuganjShirajganj grid line is under maintenance. Some accidents have happened this year and they are beyond our hand. We hope that the BPDB will able to generate 10,000MW of power from the next week and accordingly the situation will improve, he added. The official told the Independent that as per the schedule, the Summit Bibiyana 240MW and the Asugonj 360MW plants will come into generation by tomorrow (26 may), while the 450MW Meghnaghat plant will start power generation on 28 may. This is likely to provide some comfort to the people, he added. Khan also said that the recent heat waves are adding to the woe of power cuts. The tremendous heat spell and power cuts have thrown normal life out of gear. No respite from the heat is imminent in the next two days as the chances of rainfall are slim. Day and night temperatures may remain nearly unchanged across the country.