Power supply starts faltering again

FE Team | Published: May 11, 2010 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

FE Report
The country's power supply situation has turned worse again Monday amid tripping of several large power plants a day after resumption of gas supply to a fertiliser factory, officials said Monday.
All the 43 operational power plants across the country could generate a meager 3,708 megawatts (mw) of electricity Monday, down by 1000 mw from the previous week's maximum generation of around 4700 mw, a BPDB official told the FE.
He said several big power plants including Meghnaghat 450 mw, Ghorashal 210 mw and Sidhhirganj 110 mw plants tripped Monday due to unknown reasons, he said.
Frequent power outages, dubbed 'load-shedding' by power authorities, gripped the whole country, especially the capital where the electricity demand is the maximum.
Consumers especially of Mirpur, Kalyanpur, Badda, Rampura, Khilgaon, Jatrabari, Nawabpur and parts of old Dhaka were the worst sufferers of the load-shedding that was enforced every alternative hour or even less than that period.
In Dhaka, electricity load-shedding was the highest 458 mw followed by 162 mw in Chittagong, 147 mw in Khulna, 150 mw in Rajshahi, 121 mw in Comilla, 73 mw in Mymensingh, 22 mw in Barisal and 62 mw in Rangpur.
"As the electricity generation fell drastically due to tripping of several power plants, it might take several days to bring those plants on line," a senior Dhaka Power Distribution Company (DPDC) official said.
He said the DPDC is facing hardship in providing electricity due to the abrupt fall in generation.
The official was also 'astonished' with the low generation of electricity when the country's four gas-guzzling fertiliser factories are still closed making room for the gas-fired power plants to operate.
The BPDB officials said it could not generate around 1100 mw of electricity due to forced outages and emergencies, while only around 300 mw due to gas crisis.
"It means technical glitches in the country's power plants are the main hindrance to electricity generation, not just the natural gas," said the official.
The country's overall electricity demand was over 5,500 mw Monday, he added.