ICCB for commercial coal exploration to make power sector vibrant

Bangladesh should go for all-out commercial exploration of coal in the next five years to make the power sector, the backbone of the country's economy, sustainable and vibrant, said International Chamber of Commerce Bangladesh (ICCB).
The generation of electricity in coal-fired power plants will be viable and much cheaper if locally explored quality coal is used as fuel instead of imported one, it added.
The Bangladesh chapter of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) came up with the suggestion in the editorial of its current News Bulleting (Oct-Dec 2017) released on Sunday, reports BSS.
It also suggested exploring the possibility of joining Nepal and Bhutan in tapping the vast hydropower resources.
Nepal alone has theoretical hydropower potential of 83,000 MW, but so far, less than two per cent has been realized while Bhutan has an estimated hydropower capacity of around 30,000 MW, said the ICCB.
The chamber suggested development of appropriate infrastructure and effective monitoring system to overcome the major hurdle in efficiently delivering power as the total transmission and distribution losses amount to one-third of the total generation, the value of which is equal to the US $247 million per year.
It said due to fast depleting gas reserve and lack of major initiatives to develop local coal it is becoming difficult for Bangladesh to achieve a sustainable local primary energy source. According to an estimate, Bangladesh would become 92 per cent dependent on imported fuel by 2030 if local coal is not explored and exploited, said the chamber.
The ICCB said per capita energy consumption in Bangladesh is still one of the lowest in the world. The installed capacity of Bangladesh in 1972 was only 200 MW and since then, the current power generation has increased to 16,046 MW with 600 MW import from India.
"The capacity has increased due to favourable government policies, which have attracted private investment and Independent Power Producers (IPP)," it said, adding that these power producers are now producing 46 per cent of total power in Bangladesh.
Though the government has achieved significant success in electricity generation, actual capacity utilisation is 9,507 MW only due to vulnerable and double-digit system loss prevailing in the distribution mechanism, it added.
The Power Sector Master Plan (PSMP)-2015 has a target of 57,000 MW generation by 2041 -- 35 per cent coal-based, 35 per cent Gas and LNG-based and remaining 30 per cent would come from nuclear power, power import and renewable energy. Of the 30 per cent, about five per cent would come from imported oil, five per cent from nuclear and the remaining 20 per cent from renewable energy.
The government has decided to import LNG for the proposed 15,300 MW LNG-based power generation plants. Contracts have already been signed with private sector operators for seven million tonnes (1000MCFD) of annual LNG import and works are in progress for 22,000 MW imported coal-based power generation by 2041 for which about 66 million tonnes of coal would be needed annually.
The government has taken the initiative for setting up a coal transfer terminal at Matarbari with a capacity of 40 million tonnes annually. The construction work of the 1,200MW Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant, the first such plant in the country, has formally started on November 30.
The government will import coal despite the fact that Bangladesh has an estimated reserve of some 3.0 billion tonnes of high-quality coal in five coalfields in northern districts.
Experts and the members of the parliamentary standing committee on energy affairs have lent their support for open-pit mining as it is risk-free and cost-effective. But the authorities are reluctant to go ahead with the option of open-pit mining fearing a backlash from the opponents of the system.
Even though the commitment to restrict funding for coal exploration, other Asian nations including China, India, Japan, the Philippines and Vietnam are increasingly prioritising coal to strengthen their economies too. China, India and Indonesia now burn 71 percent of the world's newly mined coals, according to the World Coal Association.