Load shedding to last long as plants shutting down

Programmes organised by the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) and the Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry to give their reactions to the proposed national budget faced repeated interruptions on Saturday due to power outages at the country's financial hub.

During a press conference at the FBCCI conference hall in the capital, there were two instances of power outages, leaving the FBCCI board members and journalists without electricity for about 20 minutes.

While the country's heart is experiencing such interruptions, the situation is even worse in other areas. People face load shedding of 2,000-2,500 MW at different times of the day.

The situation is expected to worsen as the second unit of the Payra 1,320 MW Thermal Power Plant is going to shut down by Monday due to a persistent coal shortage, and there is no alternative to improve the supply situation.

It is one of the major plants for demand management in the current situation. Its first unit was closed down on 25 May, which had a significant impact on the electricity supply situation in the southern part and a portion of central Bangladesh.

In addition to coal, the country is also facing a shortage of other types of fuel required for electricity generation, which has resulted in hours-long load shedding throughout the country, exacerbating the effects of the ongoing heatwave.

Expressing sadness over the ongoing blackouts plaguing the country amid high temperatures, State Minister for Power, Energy, and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid said the situation would persist for a few days as several power plants were not operational.

Acknowledging the public sufferings for outages as the temperatures are reaching as high as 38-41 degrees Celsius in some places of the country, he said, "We are deeply saddened that we have to endure load shedding in these circumstances, and unfortunately, it will continue for a few more days."

Addressing the inauguration ceremony of Daffodil International University's Energy Research Laboratory and Training Centre in Savar on Saturday, the state minister said currently there is load-shedding of up to 1,700 MW against the total maximum demand of electricity in the country.

Officials at the Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB), on condition of anonymity, however, said that the actual load shedding is over 2000 MW to 2500 MW per day.

According to data from the BPDB, the country has a 23,482 MW grid-connected electricity generation capacity, while the supply is only 14,000 MW to 14,500 MW against a demand of 15,500 MW to 16,000 MW.

Nasrul said the problem with electricity intensified as several power plants have not been in operation.

At present, the country has a total of 64 furnace oil-based power plants with a combined capacity of 5,973 MW. Around half of this plant runs at partial capacity due to the fuel crisis that resulted when the owners of the plant banned importing energy over a fund shortage.

Besides, there are seven coal-fired plants with 2,692 MW of capacity, but the production limit is 1,400 MW due to a coal shortage.

"Here, we are not getting a large amount of electricity in the system, which I think is why there is some public suffering and load-shedding has increased," he added.

"We are also struggling with oil. We are diverting [gas] to industries now and supplying most of the gas here," he said.

Payra plant shuts

The two units of the Payra power plant required around 10,000 to 12,000 tonnes of coal to run at full capacity. Bangladesh-China Power Company (PVT) Limited – the owner of the plant, has been importing coal from Indonesia since its inception in 2018.

However, due to the dollar crisis, Bangladesh-China Power Company (PVT) Limited owes $390 million to the suppliers as coal import bills till April.

As the bills have become overdue, the suppliers are refusing to supply more coal to the Bangladesh-China Power Company (PVT) Limited, which has ended up with a plant shutdown.

Meanwhile, amid the scorching heat, the shutdown of this plant has intensified the power shortage in the national grid as the plant used to inject around 1,200MW of electricity daily.

People in Barishal, Gopalganj and Dhaka were beneficiaries of the plant. Hence, the shortage of supply left them with hours-long load shedding.

Bangladesh Power Development Board failed to fill in the supply gap with generation from other fuel-based plants due to the same reason.

Shah Abdul Moula, Plant Manager, Payra 1320 MW TPP, however, said that the coal import is in the process as they have made around $90 million payment from the outstanding bills.

"We are hopeful of resuming the plant by 25th to 30th June," he said.

Therefore, people and businesses face around 2000MW load shedding several times a day.