Electricity import versus coal mining

Newspaper reports have it that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will visit the Energy and Mineral Resources Division today (April 09, 2015). She is expected to take stock of the country's energy situation including the existing power and energy development plans and their current level of achievements.
It was also reported that during the prime minister's visit to the same ministry (Energy and Mineral Resources Division) on February 06, 2014, a total of 19 directives were given for implementation. These related to among others setting up of the second unit of the Eastern Refinery Limited within June, 2016, building of the first floating storage and re-gasification unit (FSRU), popularly known as LNG terminal (at Moheshkhali), installing of the single-point mooring to supply fuel to the refinery, implementation of a project on LNG imports and construction of a pipeline from the planned offshore terminal in West Bengal (India), distribution of LPG at an affordable price and increase of LPG production.
In addition, the prime minister also called for capacity enhancement for gas exploration and production companies, enhancing capacity of the BAPEX, pipeline construction for connecting the Numaligarh Refinery Ltd. pipeline in Shiliguri, West Bengal in India to the Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation depot in Parbatipur, Dinajpur for importing high-speed diesel for Bangladesh. She encouraged efforts to establish regional cooperation among the neighbouring countries to import primary fuel and power. Sheikh Hasina stressed the need for working out an energy action plan for Bangladesh commensurate with the requirements to achieve middle-income country status within 2021 and developed country status by 2041. Published reports suggest that most of the directives of the prime minister have gone unheeded mainly due to lack of initiatives and for other constraints.
Although coal is regarded, globally, as one of the major primary energy resources for generating electricity at an affordable cost, the Bangladesh government has been reducing the target for coal-based power generation.
On the contrary, the government has focused on regional and sub-regional cooperation for enhancing electricity import for meeting the country's needs. Published reports indicate that the government has been compelled to reduce the targeted coal-based power generation as it has failed to secure the required infrastructure development for coal import. Also it could not decide on domestic coal development. As a result, the Energy and Mineral Resources Division has to shift its earlier plan to generate 20,000 megawatt power generation from coal.
It may be mentioned that the Power System Master Plan 2010 had a target to generate 11,000 MW electricity from domestic coal and 9,000 MW from imported coal. The prevailing depressed petroleum market has pushed coal prices low in the world market but Bangladesh cannot take advantage of the situation until the port and inland water transportation infrastructure are built and improved. Such an infrastructure development not only requires huge investment but also considerable time.
Also the government intends to enhance power import and increase it from the targeted 3,500 MW to 10,000 MW within 2030. Currently, nearly 500 MW power import agreement with India is in place. Additional 100 MW power may be imported by this year from Tripura, India. The Power Division expects additional 500 MW power import from India may be possible within 2017. The remaining targets are still in the conceptual stages and are subject to a lot of variable factors including construction of several hydro-electric projects in eastern Indian states, Nepal and Bhutan at the potential places and construction of power evacuation facilities building.  The tilt to increased imports for electricity is tied with the desire for avoidance of domestic coal development.
The rapid depletion of natural gas resource in Bangladesh (which so far supplies nearly 74 per cent commercial primary energy and 65 per cent fuel for electricity generation) raises further alarm. Currently, Bangladesh consumes nearly 2,500 million cubic feet of natural gas daily against the demand for 3,000 million cubic feet gas a day. The Energy and Mineral Resources Division has to import LNG (equivalent to 500 million cubic feet gas daily) to cover up the gap in gas supply. The project has been progressing very slowly despite the prime minister's directives.
Also the public sector gas companies realise that the price for import gas (in the LNG form) will significantly enhance gas price or result in huge subsidy to compensate the price differences between domestic gas and imported gas per unit.
Interestingly, the initiatives for reducing the wastages of natural gas by improving technology of industrial users and by improving gas transmission and distribution management are gaining little attention from the policy-makers and from the concerned authorities. As a result, age-old gas-fired power plants and fertiliser factories in the public sectors continue wasting the precious natural gas resources. For example, the gas-fired power plants (cumulative capacity of such is nearly 6,000 MW in the country) run with an average 35 per cent fuel efficiency. The Bangladesh Power Development Board operates gas-fired power plants with 1000 MW capacity having 25 per cent fuel efficiency. The captive gas-fired power plants' fuel efficiency ranges within 20 per cent. The advance gas-fired power plants are expected to have fuel efficiency within 50-55 per cent.
If attained, the currently used natural gas for power generation may suffice to generate double the amount of electricity using same volume of natural gas. Thus, the issues of fuel efficiency improvement for power generation and fertiliser production, if addressed, may eliminate at this stage the need for import of gas (LNG) or demand-supply gap for natural gas. This issue also has important aspects relating to the supply of primary energy and electric energy at an affordable cost.
The writer is a mining engineer.
 mushfiq41@yahoo.com