Power situation aggravates as three more units stop generation
FHM Humayan Kabir | Saturday, 26 July 2008
Power generation in the current month has decreased considerably compared to that of the corresponding period of last year, leading to further deterioration in power situation, a power development board (PDB) official said.
The crisis intensified further Friday further as three power units having a total generation capacity of 340-megawatt (MW) went out of operation during last couple of days, the official said.
According to PDB statistics the country on July 23 and 24 of last year 2007 generated 3848.6MW and 3792.5MW of electricity respectively in the peak hours while it fell to 3489.10MW and about 3335MW in the same period of current year 2008.
In July last year, the average daily peak-hour generation of power was 3511MW. On the other hand, the average peak-hour generation came down to 3418MW until July 24 this year.
The 30MW capacity GT-1 unit at the Fenchuganj, 210MW capacity unit at Ghorasal, 110MW capacity at Khulna power plants were shut down due to technical faults during last cuple of days.
In addition, closing down of the 71MW unit at Baghabari in Pabna on July 22 has forced us to supply less power to the consumers over the last few days, he said.
The country Friday experienced more than 1000MW of load-shedding as the operative power units generated only nearly 3300MW of electricity as against the demand for over 4300MW.
The power disruption led to acute water crisis in the capital and also affected industrial production, business activities and domestic work badly.
The PDB official said they supplied 1300MW of power to the capital city and its adjacent areas against the demand for over 1550MW Friday peak hours.
"Due to disruption to power and price hike of diesel in the local market have pushed our production cost up by more than 30 per cent," chairman of the Bangladesh Jute Spinners' Association Sabbir Yusuf said.
He said we do not get electricity supply for eight to 10 hours in a day due to load-shedding which has put us into serious difficulty in running our business, said Yusuf, who is also a owner of a jute spinning mill at Faridpur.
When asked, a senior PDB official said as the Petrobangla has been failing to supply adequate gas to some power units over the last couple of months, we have been forced to suspend operation of some power units.
Besides, some operative power units are generating less electricity than their capacity for inadequate gas supply, he added.
"The 210MW unit at Rauzan, 40MW at Shikolbaha, 96MW capacity at Haripur SBU and 71 MW capacity unit at Baghabari power plants have suspended generation due to gas supply shortage," he said.
Power generation at the 835MW capacity Ghorasal power plant, 180MW unit at Rauzan, 210MW unit at Siddhirganj and 210MW plant of RPCL at Mymansingh have fallen to 610MW, 90MW, 100MW and 128MW respectively due to gas supply shortage, the PDB official said.
In addition, some other power units including a 150MW at Ashuganj, another 18MW steam turbine at Ashuganj, 55MW at Ghorasal, 60MW at Khulna, 50MW at Kaptai hydro-electricity plant and 10MW at Shahjibazar are inoperative for technical faults or maintenance works for many days, the PDB official said
Country's 86 per cent of the power plants depend on gas as their fuel to generate electricity.
A Petrobangla official said they produce nearly 1730 million cubic feet of gas per day (MMCFD) against the demand for over 1800MMCFD.
The crisis intensified further Friday further as three power units having a total generation capacity of 340-megawatt (MW) went out of operation during last couple of days, the official said.
According to PDB statistics the country on July 23 and 24 of last year 2007 generated 3848.6MW and 3792.5MW of electricity respectively in the peak hours while it fell to 3489.10MW and about 3335MW in the same period of current year 2008.
In July last year, the average daily peak-hour generation of power was 3511MW. On the other hand, the average peak-hour generation came down to 3418MW until July 24 this year.
The 30MW capacity GT-1 unit at the Fenchuganj, 210MW capacity unit at Ghorasal, 110MW capacity at Khulna power plants were shut down due to technical faults during last cuple of days.
In addition, closing down of the 71MW unit at Baghabari in Pabna on July 22 has forced us to supply less power to the consumers over the last few days, he said.
The country Friday experienced more than 1000MW of load-shedding as the operative power units generated only nearly 3300MW of electricity as against the demand for over 4300MW.
The power disruption led to acute water crisis in the capital and also affected industrial production, business activities and domestic work badly.
The PDB official said they supplied 1300MW of power to the capital city and its adjacent areas against the demand for over 1550MW Friday peak hours.
"Due to disruption to power and price hike of diesel in the local market have pushed our production cost up by more than 30 per cent," chairman of the Bangladesh Jute Spinners' Association Sabbir Yusuf said.
He said we do not get electricity supply for eight to 10 hours in a day due to load-shedding which has put us into serious difficulty in running our business, said Yusuf, who is also a owner of a jute spinning mill at Faridpur.
When asked, a senior PDB official said as the Petrobangla has been failing to supply adequate gas to some power units over the last couple of months, we have been forced to suspend operation of some power units.
Besides, some operative power units are generating less electricity than their capacity for inadequate gas supply, he added.
"The 210MW unit at Rauzan, 40MW at Shikolbaha, 96MW capacity at Haripur SBU and 71 MW capacity unit at Baghabari power plants have suspended generation due to gas supply shortage," he said.
Power generation at the 835MW capacity Ghorasal power plant, 180MW unit at Rauzan, 210MW unit at Siddhirganj and 210MW plant of RPCL at Mymansingh have fallen to 610MW, 90MW, 100MW and 128MW respectively due to gas supply shortage, the PDB official said.
In addition, some other power units including a 150MW at Ashuganj, another 18MW steam turbine at Ashuganj, 55MW at Ghorasal, 60MW at Khulna, 50MW at Kaptai hydro-electricity plant and 10MW at Shahjibazar are inoperative for technical faults or maintenance works for many days, the PDB official said
Country's 86 per cent of the power plants depend on gas as their fuel to generate electricity.
A Petrobangla official said they produce nearly 1730 million cubic feet of gas per day (MMCFD) against the demand for over 1800MMCFD.