Cooling system leakage shuts Tongi plant

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The 80-MW Tongi peaking power plant had to be shut down Sunday, as a leakage developed in its cooling system, reports UNB.

According to the Power Development Board (PDB) officials, the operation of the power generation unit was halted at 5:35am after a leakage was identified in its cooling system.

The officials, however, could not give an indication as how long it would take to repair the fault and put back the plant into operation.

PDB control room officials said the country experienced about 1,000-MW of load shedding at peak hours Sunday, a public holiday for Jonmashtomi celebrations.

The PDB and independent power producers (IPPs) together produced about 3,300-MW on the day against a demand of 4,350-MW.

Industry insiders believe the real demand is more than 5,000-MW now. From today (Monday), the extent of load shedding will be increasing with the start of the official working days.