Move to solve power shortfall
Saturday, 4 August 2007
ACUTE power crisis was the most irksome issue that haunted the immediate past government through to the end. Indeed, it turned out to be a nemesis for that government, because it could not add any fresh quantity of power to the national grid, though it initiated the process for a number of plants. With the rising demand for power every passing hour, the spectre of dark days without electricity to light the homes, offices, streets and power the factories and other workplaces, loomed large on the horizon.
Last summer, newspapers carried screaming headlines portraying a gloomy picture of the looming crisis. At that time, the generation capacity of the power plants of the country was around 4100 megawatts whereas the demand for the same, especially during summer, ranged between 4500 and 5000 megawatts. In the face of this staggering hunger for power, the Power Development Board (PDB) had the capacity to meet only half the demand.
An Asian Development Bank (ADB) report had predicted that the country would be facing a power generation shortfall of 2500 MW in 2007, while the daily peak hour shortfall of power in 2006 hovered around 1500 MW. Small wonder that upon assumption of office, the first thought of the caretaker government was to address the nagging issue of acute power shortage. But the problem with power generation is that it is a time-consuming process. What perturbed the citizens was: how is the incumbent government going to manage with the existing level of supply from the present power generation units? Mercifully, through some measures to economise the use of power and efficient load management, the incumbent has, more or less, been able to tide over without any serious dislocation so far the larger part of the crucial months of summer when the demand for power remains the highest.
Meanwhile, the government has come to grips with the real issue of resolving the power crisis, which is, through installation of new power plants. It has already started the process to install three independent power plants (IPPS) each with a generation capacity of 450 megawatt electricity. The IPPs to be set up at Sirajganj, Bibiyana and Meghnaghat will together produce at total of 1340 megawatts of power. The total production capacity of all these generation units would still be far short of the existing demand for power in the country. Moreover, the total wattage to be added to the national grid will not also be forthcoming until the envisaged IPPs go into actual production. In the meantime, demand for power will not remain static; rather the gap will widen further between demand and supply. The problem of power, therefore, is going to stay as a long-drawn predicament for the country.
Reassuringly, the government has also other steps on the agenda to address the issue by way of establishing small power plants, mounting power plants on rental basis and buying surplus power from various private bodies that have facilities for producing some power for their own consumption. On this score, the government did last month give its approval to set up 10 small power plants with a total capacity to produce 200 megawatts of power. The initiative for these SPPs, however, was taken by the immediate past government. As part of the urgent steps to face the crisis, the government has also invited bid for installing a 50 mw capacity skid-mounted power plant at Fenchuganj in Sylhet on rental basis. What is more, the selection of the lowest bidders for six other rental power plants with a total capacity of 240 megawatts has also been made in the meanwhile. All these developments will certainly go a long way towards addressing the scary prospect of power crunch facing the nation.
Last summer, newspapers carried screaming headlines portraying a gloomy picture of the looming crisis. At that time, the generation capacity of the power plants of the country was around 4100 megawatts whereas the demand for the same, especially during summer, ranged between 4500 and 5000 megawatts. In the face of this staggering hunger for power, the Power Development Board (PDB) had the capacity to meet only half the demand.
An Asian Development Bank (ADB) report had predicted that the country would be facing a power generation shortfall of 2500 MW in 2007, while the daily peak hour shortfall of power in 2006 hovered around 1500 MW. Small wonder that upon assumption of office, the first thought of the caretaker government was to address the nagging issue of acute power shortage. But the problem with power generation is that it is a time-consuming process. What perturbed the citizens was: how is the incumbent government going to manage with the existing level of supply from the present power generation units? Mercifully, through some measures to economise the use of power and efficient load management, the incumbent has, more or less, been able to tide over without any serious dislocation so far the larger part of the crucial months of summer when the demand for power remains the highest.
Meanwhile, the government has come to grips with the real issue of resolving the power crisis, which is, through installation of new power plants. It has already started the process to install three independent power plants (IPPS) each with a generation capacity of 450 megawatt electricity. The IPPs to be set up at Sirajganj, Bibiyana and Meghnaghat will together produce at total of 1340 megawatts of power. The total production capacity of all these generation units would still be far short of the existing demand for power in the country. Moreover, the total wattage to be added to the national grid will not also be forthcoming until the envisaged IPPs go into actual production. In the meantime, demand for power will not remain static; rather the gap will widen further between demand and supply. The problem of power, therefore, is going to stay as a long-drawn predicament for the country.
Reassuringly, the government has also other steps on the agenda to address the issue by way of establishing small power plants, mounting power plants on rental basis and buying surplus power from various private bodies that have facilities for producing some power for their own consumption. On this score, the government did last month give its approval to set up 10 small power plants with a total capacity to produce 200 megawatts of power. The initiative for these SPPs, however, was taken by the immediate past government. As part of the urgent steps to face the crisis, the government has also invited bid for installing a 50 mw capacity skid-mounted power plant at Fenchuganj in Sylhet on rental basis. What is more, the selection of the lowest bidders for six other rental power plants with a total capacity of 240 megawatts has also been made in the meanwhile. All these developments will certainly go a long way towards addressing the scary prospect of power crunch facing the nation.