[🇧🇩] Energy Security of Bangladesh

[Saif]

Nat'l body formed to review AL govt’s power, energy deals

The interim government has decided to review the deals signed under the Quick Enhancement of Electricity and Energy Supply (Special Provision) Act 2010 by the previous government.

www.thedailystar.net

Nat'l body formed to review AL govt’s power, energy deals

The interim government has decided to review the deals signed under the Quick Enhancement of Electricity and Energy Supply (Special Provision) Act 2010 by the previous government.

Today, the power division formed a five-member national committee to review the contracts signed under the act, said a gazette notification issued by the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources.

Justice Md Moinul Islam Chowdhury, a retired judge of the High Court will lead the committee.

The other members of the committee are Prof Abdul Hasib Chowdhury of Buet, chartered accountant Ali Ashfaq, former lead economist of World Bank's Dhaka office Zahid Hussain, and prof Mushtaq Khan at the University of London, the gazette notification added.​

 

[Saif]

Bangladesh keen to work with Nepal in power sector: Adviser Fouzul Kabir

Adviser of the interim government for Power and Energy Muhammad Fouzul Kabir Khan has expressed Bangladesh’s keen interest in working jointly with Nepal in the power sector. He said that Bangladesh is also interested in increasing trade relations with the Himalayan nation. He made remarks w

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

Bangladesh keen to work with Nepal in power sector: Adviser Fouzul Kabir
UNB
Published :
Sep 08, 2024 19:45
Updated :
Sep 08, 2024 19:45

Adviser of the interim government for Power and Energy Muhammad Fouzul Kabir Khan has expressed Bangladesh’s keen interest in working jointly with Nepal in the power sector.

He said that Bangladesh is also interested in increasing trade relations with the Himalayan nation.

He made remarks when a 2-member delegation, led by Ambassador of Nepal to Bangladesh Ghanshyam Bhandari, met him in the conference room of the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources on Sunday.

Welcoming the Nepalese Ambassador, the adviser said that Nepal is a long-time neighbor of Bangladesh.

They discussed various aspects of strengthening the relationship between the two countries through SAARC.

Ambassador Ghanshyam Bhandari congratulated Power and Energy Adviser on his new responsibility and said that Nepal recognised the student movement from the beginning and expressed solidarity with the people of Bangladesh.

The Nepalese Envoy said that Nepal has good relations with Bangladesh from the beginning and expressed the hope that it will continue in the future.

They also discussed the purchase of 40 MW of hydroelectric power from Nepal, the setting up of a 683 MW Sunkoshi-3 hydropower plant in a joint venture with Nepal and a Power Sale Agreement (PSA) for the import of 500 MW of power from Nepal’s GMR Upper Karnali Hydropower Limited (GUKHL).

During the meeting, Senior Secretary of Power Division Md. Habibur Rahman and Secretary of Railway Ministry Abdul Baki were present.​

 

[Saif]

Power outages on the rise again

Power cuts are getting more frequent as power generation has failed to keep up with the high demand caused by the rising mercury.

www.thedailystar.net

Power outages on the rise again

Photo: Collected

Power cuts are getting more frequent as power generation has failed to keep up with the high demand caused by the rising mercury.

For instance, the power generation shortfall hit nearly 2,000 megawatts (MW) yesterday -- the highest in recent weeks, according to data from the Bangladesh Power Development Board.

From this month, PDB has started generating up to 13,900 MW of electricity a day against the highest demand of 16,200MW, which is much higher than the previous month's average. Last month, the demand was 14,000MW to 14,500MW.

The temperature in Dhaka is now in the mid-30s during the day.

Rajshahi, Rangpur, Cumilla, Mymensingh and Sylhet areas are mostly affected by power cuts, the PDB data shows.

Frequent power cuts started in the last three to four days, said Rafiul Islam, a resident of the Sambhuganj area of Mymensingh.

"It's unbearable amid the sweltering heat."

The situation stays normal from midnight to 7 in the morning and then the power goes out in one to two-hour intervals throughout the day, Rafiul said.

A businessman, who ran a steel workshop in Biswas Para of Joypurhat, said they need to take a break for at least an hour every couple of hours. "Sometimes, the power is gone for three to four hours," he added.

PDB officials are pinning the blame for frequent power cuts on insufficient electricity generation by the coal-based power plants due to various technical issues. Gas shortage, too, has become a regular scenario.

Power plants with at least 10,000MW unutilised capacity are sitting idle due to fuel shortage or maintenance: 6,300MW due to fuel shortage and 3,600MW for maintenance.

Compared to last month, the unutilised capacity has increased due to fuel shortage this month.

Gas-fired plants of 4,093MW capacity are sitting idle due to a shortage of fuel, according to PDB data.

The country has a total of 11,428MW installed capacity from gas sources.

At least 25 gas-fired power plants have been shut since May 27 when cyclone Remal hit the coastal areas.

The cyclone damaged one of the country's two floating storage and regasification units (FSRUs), which brought down the LNG regasification capacity to 600 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) from 1,100 mmcfd.

The FSRU tried to resume operations several times but failed.

It is now slated to resume operations from September 15, as per the recent announcement of Muhammad Fouzul Kabir Khan, the adviser to the ministry of power, energy and mineral resources.

Then the PDB's largest single power supplier, the 1,496MW Adani Godda power plant located in India's Jharkhand, is producing around 1,000MW of electricity.

Recently, they have sent letters to the ministry, the Bangladesh Bank and the chief adviser of the interim government to clear their eight months' outstanding bills amounting to $800 million.

"We are forced to inform you that the Godda plant is struggling hard to sustain its operations on account of running expenses towards procurement of coal, debt service obligations, operation and maintenance," said a PDB official quoting the letter as saying.

The Matarbari power plant is also producing less than its capacity due to coal shortage, while one of the two units of Chattogram's SS power plant is under maintenance.

At present, about 2,300MW -- or one-third of the total coal power capacity of 6,604MW -- remains idle, according to data from PDB.

Furnace oil imports also faced a dip due to the dollar crunch, according to PDB officials.

As of September 4, gross foreign exchange reserves stand at about $20.6 billion, enough to service about four months' import bill, according to data from the BB.

The country's total power generation capacity is 27,086MW.​

 

[Saif]

Power supply may not improve anytime soon

The power supply situation has further deteriorated across the country as another power plant has completely shut and there is no sign of increasing generation in the immediate future.

www.thedailystar.net

Power supply may not improve anytime soon

The power supply situation has further deteriorated across the country as another power plant has completely shut and there is no sign of increasing generation in the immediate future.

Load-shedding or gap in power demand and supply hit the highest 2,312MW early yesterday, a record in recent weeks, according to the data of Power Grid Bangladesh PLC.

Rajshahi, Rangpur, Cumilla, Mymensingh and Sylhet areas are mostly affected by power cuts, the data shows.

From Monday evening, Dinajpur's 525-megawatt Barapukuria thermal power plant, the country's first coal-fired power producer, suspended operations after its lone functioning unit shut down for technical glitches, leaving the greater Rangpur area without electricity for a large part of the day.

The unit was supplying around 200MW of electricity.

Md Abu Bakkar Siddique, the chief engineer of the power plant, attributed the shutdown to the failure to conduct timely repairs by the Chinese contractor Harbin International.

Harbin did not adhere to contractual obligations regarding maintenance, he said, adding that the Chinese contractor had requested two weeks to resolve the technical fault.

Until then, small-scale businesses and battery-run autorickshaws will have to suffer.

Abdul Hannan, a rice miller in Bochaganj upazila of Dinajpur, said his mill's output has dropped significantly because of the unusual power cuts.

Sultan Mahmud, who runs a PVC printing business in Nawabganj upazila, said his business was affected by the frequent power cuts for the last couple of days.

"We are getting at least six hours' of power cuts every 24 hours," he said.

Load-shedding has hit Dhaka as well, according to data from the two distribution companies -- Dhaka Power Distribution Company and Dhaka Electric Supply Company. The two companies faced around 500MW of supply shortfall yesterday.

At least 25 gas-fired power plants have been shut since May 27 when cyclone Remal hit the coastal areas.

The cyclone damaged one of the country's two floating storage and regasification units (FSRUs), which brought down the LNG regasification capacity to 600 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) from 1,100 mmcfd.

The FSRU tried to resume operations several times but failed.

It is now slated to resume operations on September 15, as per the interim government's recent announcement.

However, a PDB official said even if the FSRU comes into operation then, the situation will not improve immediately as the liquefied natural gas cargo will not arrive.

The government initiated the purchase process only recently and it will take at least two weeks for the cargo to arrive, he said.

Besides the gas shortfall, PDB officials are pinning the blame for frequent power cuts on insufficient electricity generation by the coal-based power plants due to various technical issues.

In the meantime, the Adani Godda power plant, which has outstanding bills of about $800 million, is supplying about 500MW less following instructions from PDB.

PDB has outstanding bills of about Tk 35,000 crore, most of which need to be paid in dollars, The Daily Star has learnt from officials involved with the proceedings.

Due to the dollar crunch, those payments have been put on hold, they said.

As of September 4, gross foreign exchange reserves stood at about $20.6 billion, enough to service about four months' import bill, according to data from the Bangladesh Bank.

The dollar crunch has interrupted the import of primary fuel including coal, gas and furnace oil, which hit the power sector, according to the officials concerned.

Subsequently, PDB has been unable to ramp up production despite higher demand due to the rising mercury.

The country's total power generation capacity is 27,086MW.​

 

[Saif]

Production fully suspended at Barapukuria power plant due to technical glitch

The shutdown has led to further power outages as the plant has the capacity to produce 275-megawatt of electricity.

www.thedailystar.net

Production fully suspended at Barapukuria power plant due to technical glitch

Photo: Star

Power generation at Dinajpur's Barapukuria coal-based thermal power plant was fully suspended yesterday after its third unit was forced to shut down due to a technical glitch.

The unit had stopped operating from 6:00pm, our Dinajpur correspondent reports quoting Md Abu Bakkar Siddique, the power plant's Chief Engineer.

The Barapukuria plant, managed by Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB), has the capacity to produce 575-megawatt of electricity from its three units.

The 275-MW third unit is operated by the Chinese contracting firm, Harbin International. The two other units have the capacity of producing 125MW electricity each.

However, it used to generate 200 MW of electricity daily, which was supplied to the national grid.

This latest shutdown has further exacerbated power outages, resulting in frequent power outages in the greater Rangpur area.

Load-shedding or gap in power demand and supply was calculated at around 2,200MW last night, which is the highest in recent weeks, according to data of Power Grid Bangladesh PLC

The unit that shut down yesterday was the last operational unit of the power plant, as its first and second units went out of service long ago due to technical glitches, the chief engineer said. Each of the three units requires two electro-hydraulic oil pumps to function, which supply oil to the units for power generation. Since 2022, one of the pumps in the third unit remained out of service, and the plant was running depending on a single pump, leading to operational risks. Despite repeated notifications to the contractor, the problems remained unresolved.

After a 36-day shutdown, the third unit resumed operation on Friday (September 6), but its last oil pump broke down yesterday evening, halting production completely, the chief engineer said.

He said they had informed the Chinese contractor about the issue, and they requested two weeks to resolve it.

The plant will be able to resume operations once the necessary parts arrive from China.​