27 power plants closed due to lack of gas

5 more to be closed soon

Mahfuja Mukul: Almost half of the gas-fired power plants are sitting idle due to acute gas crisis. There is no possibility of increasing gas supply in the coming days. But the Power Development Board (PDB) has set a target of bringing five more gas-fired power plants into production within the next three months.
The total production capacity of these power plants is 2,371 MW. Petrobangla said it is not possible for the company to procure additional gas beyond the current supply to the new power plant.
It is known that the new five power plants were supposed to come into production on August 31. According to PDB and Titus, these power plants could not be brought into production due to lack of gas supply. The new plants include Summit’s Meghnaghat 583 MW power plant, Unique Group’s Meghnaghat 584 MW power plant and India’s Reliance Group’s Meghnaghat 718 MW power plant.
The production capacity of these centers is 1,885 MW. Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) will be used as fuel in these three power plants. Apart from this, BPDB’s Khulna 330 MW power plant running on dual fuel (gas or diesel) was supposed to come into production this month. As of last July 12, the work of this center has been completed 81 percent. Ghorashal Unit-3 repowering power plant with a production capacity of 156 MW is scheduled to come into production next December.
Titus said the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources has asked for the gas to test the equipment of power plants owned by Summit and Unique Group before they go into production. Titus Gas Transmission and Distribution Company Limited is now supplying 20 million cubic feet of gas to these two power plants. On the other hand, Titus is yet to complete the pipeline work to supply gas to Reliance’s power plants.
According to Petrobangla sources, the daily gas demand in gas-fired power plants is more than 2,240 million cubic feet. But the supply is less than half i.e. 134 million cubic feet.
When asked how gas will be supplied for the new power plant, Petrobangla Chairman Janendra Nath Sarkar said Daily Industry, “There is a shortage of gas in the country.” Amidst this crisis, we are supplying up to 1,100 million cubic feet of gas to power plants. In order to provide electricity to the new power plants, the supply to the power plants which currently have gas supply should be reduced. He further said that the gas crisis in the country is not going away soon. It is not possible to increase gas supply before 2026.
According to the data released by PDB’s Power Planning Department on July 12, the total number of power plants in the country is 153, including 64 gas-fired power plants. The total production capacity of these power plants is 24 thousand 911 MW. The total production capacity of 64 gas-fired power plants is 11 thousand 17 MW. There are 37 gas-fired power plants in production, with a production capacity of 8,228 MW.
According to the Power Grid Company of Bangladesh (PGCB), 18 power plants were operating at partial capacity on August 22 due to gas shortage. The production capacity of these centers is 3,825 MW. But on that day, only 1,879 MW was produced from the power plants during the peak hour. On the other hand, 27 power plants are closed because they cannot supply gas.
According to PGCB information, Ghorashal Unit-4 of 210 MW production capacity owned by PDB has been running in partial production for a long time due to insufficient supply of gas. On August 22, the maximum power generation from this power plant was 170 MW. The 210 MW gas-based plant in Siddhirganj is also unable to run at full capacity due to lack of gas. Last August 22, the maximum production of this power plant was 98 MW.
When asked why gas-based power plants are being set up despite the gas crisis, PDB member (production) SM Wazed Ali Sardar said, “I don’t have an explanation as to why these power plants have been taken.” The planning department can say.