The Eid-vacation is expected to be free of power load-shedding like the whole month of Ramadan, thanks to increased electricity generation by gas- and coal-fired power plants and imports from neighbouring India.
The utilities have been supplying electricity as per the demand, resulting in no load-shedding, a senior official of the state-run Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) told The Financial Express on Saturday.
The overall electricity generation was around 13,869 megawatts with no load-shedding across the country, according to official data from the BPDB as on March 26.
Gas-fired power plants generated around 142.858 million kilowatt-hour (MKWh) while coal-fired power plants 81.702 MKWh, imported electricity from India contributed 48.483MKWh, oil-fired power plants 21.745 MKWh, solar power plants 4.856 MKWh and hydro and wind-fired power plants contributed 1.424 MKWh of electricity on the day.
With the closure of most industries and offices during the Eid vacation, there is hardly any possibility of load-shedding, said the BPDB official.
He, however, warned that the country might witness load-shedding during the post-vacation with the rising of temperature in April, which is considered the hottest month in the country.
The adviser of the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Muhammad Fouzul Kabir Khan said earlier that load shedding could range from 700 to a maximum of 1,400 MW during the upcoming summer season.
During Ramadan, the country's power demand, however, ranged around 14,500 MW, which was around 7.65 per cent lower than its projection of 15,700 MW.
The power division has projected the power demand during the upcoming summer to be around 18,000 MW.
To keep the load-shedding within control, the adviser urged to keep the temperature of air conditioners (ACs) at around 25-26 degrees Celsius.
Load-shedding is more common in summer due to the summer cooling (AC) load that raises demand by around 6,000 MW.
If AC temperature could be kept at 25-26 degree Celsius, it would be possible to save 3,000 MW of electricity, the adviser mentioned earlier.
State-run Petrobangla has increased re-gasification of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to meet the rising demand for power generation during the ongoing Ramadan, said sources.
Last week, Petrobangla re-gasified LNG of around 1,022 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) - the highest volume since LNG imports began on April 24, 2018, according to official data of Petrobangla.
Riding on the higher volume of RLNG, the country's overall electricity generation reached 14,569 megawatts (MW) during the evening peak hours on that day, according to official data.
The gas-fired power plants are currently getting around 1,025 mmcfd of gas against their overall demand for around 2,420 mmcfd.
A couple of weeks ago, the gas-fired power plants got only around 943 mmcfd of gas.
Bangladesh already bought four spot LNG cargoes for March delivery windows to meet the mounting natural gas demand during Ramadan, irrigation and ensuing summer.
State-run Rupantarita Prakritik Gas Company Ltd (RPGCL) intends to buy four or more spot LNG cargoes in April to supply more gas to the power plants for electricity generation when the country's electricity demand is predicted to soar to around 18,000 MW.
Country's both the operational floating storage and re-gasification units (FSRUs) -- owned by US company Excelerate Energy and the local Summit Group -- have the combined re-gasification capacity of 1,100 mmcfd.
During the last summer, the highest temperature ever recorded in Dhaka was 40.6 degrees Celsius, according to the Bangladesh Meteorological Department (BMD).
Bangladesh's highest temperature during last year's heat wave, however, was recorded at 42.6 degrees Celsius in southwestern Jashore, according to the BMD.
azizjst@yahoo.com
