The government will celebrate the achievement of 15,000 megawatts (MW) of power generation capacity on 7 December, tom-tomming this as its major success in the sector. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will inaugurate the mega celebration programme in the capital.
The government has also announced 100 per cent power connections to the 10 upazilas of the country. State minister for power, energy and mineral resources, Nasrul Hamid, told The Independent: “It is a milestone for the nation, as we have achieved 15,000 MW of power from 3,200 MW within six years. So, Bangladesh is growing with all kinds of support to become a middle-income country.”
Abul Kalam Azad, former principal secretary to the PM and current chief coordinator of SDG affairs at the PMO, told The Independent: “It is obvious that the achievement is a symbol of the success story of Bangladesh and all the officials concerned who have contributed to this achievement.” “How has Bangladesh achieved this in the power sector? The Prime Minister has made the bold decision for the country and we have simply implemented that,” he added. Azad is known as the key leader in this sector for the past seven years.
Sources said the installed capacity of the power sector connected to the national grid is 13,000 MW, which can generate up to 9,363 MW per day. On the other hand, the government is counting another 2,000 MW of captive power, which is not connected to the national grid, but is being generated for the private sector for its industrial units. The grid and non-grid power installation capacity now stands at 15,000 MW.
The installed capacity of electricity generation was 5,453 MW in 2009 and generated only 3,206 MW when the Awami League government assumed power.
Sources at the Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) said since 2010,  
he sector has become a big one in terms of the number of power plants. Now public and private plants total 107, a figure that was 35 in 2009.
However, Dr M Tamim, former energy adviser to the past caretaker government, told The Independent: “The government has been successful in this sector in terms of meeting the demand for power, but it has failed to phase out the oil-based rental and quick rental power plants, which are costly for the people.”
“The people of this country are lucky as oil prices in the international market are stable. But Bangladesh would become vulnerable as oil prices are rising. If we do not use more coal for generating power, power prices would not be stable,” he warned.
According to government documents, amongst 107 power plants, 45 plants are fuel-based, generating 3,657 MW of power.
A government official told The Independent that the upcoming year, and 2018, in particular, would be challenging years as far as power demand is concerned, despite 15,000 MW of installed capacity. Demand could soar to 13,000 MW in the summertime, he cautioned.
By 2018, more than 2,500 MW of power would be added in the grid from the Ghorasal (365 MW), Shirajgonj (450 MW) and Bibiyana (330 MW) plants, which are currently under construction.
“Since 2018 will be an election year, it will be very important for the government to keep the people happy before the national polls. With such a scenario, the government is trying to meet the demand in 2018.
For that, BPDB has called a tender to install 10 oil-based independent power plants (IPPs), which is under evaluation to be awarded to the parties. The target is that the 10 IPPs would be able to generate 1,000 MW of power within 18 months from the date of the award,” a BPDB official said.
The increasing use of fuel in generating power has been a costly affair. Before 2009, gas was virtually the single primary fuel to generate power, but after 2010, the fuel mix has been increasing day by day. The BPDB official disclosed that last year, the power price per unit was Tk. 5.52 but this year it has risen to Tk. 5.70 because the use of oil has increased.