Respite from power crisis unlikely in wintry days
Saturday, 10 November 2007
FE Report
The acute power supply problem is likely to continue even in winter season as its demand will further rise during the period mainly for irrigation purposes.
Demand for power will stand at about 4800 megawatt (MW) during the winter against the generation of around 3500 MW, sources in the Power Development Board (PDB) said.
However, on Friday, the demand for power was 3750 MW against the power generation of 3200 mw.
A PDB official said: "Electricity consumption during the winter season might decline by around 600-700 MW, but irrigation in pastoral areas requires an excess of around 800 mw of power during the period."
"So, there will be no respite from load shedding this winter. But we will try to keep it under a tolerable level by overhauling and maintenance of shutdown power units," he added.
Last year, the country saw a shortfall of around 500 MW against the daily demand for power in winter. Besides, irrigation required an excess of around 600 MW. According to a PDB source, last year saw a daily demand at around 4,500 MW in winter while the power plants generated about 3,100 MW.
Even after overhauling and maintenance, the country would be able to generate around 3,500 MW of electricity this winter, which might leave a deficit of about 1300 MW with the estimated demand being around 4,800 MW from December through February, sources said.
Around 15-20 power units are out of operation, most of them being under maintenance work, he said.
The PDB set a record by producing 4130 MW of electricity on September 19, but it failed to maintain the pace.
It is now producing between 3300 MW and 3600 MW of electricity on an average. It needs to produce an extra 300 MW to 450 MW to power the irrigation pumps across the country from next month.
According to the Rural Electrification Board (REB), it needs 1600 MW and 1200 MW of electricity in peak and off-peak hours respectively. "During the irrigation season, we need around 1900-2000 MW in peak and 1500-1600 MW in off-peak hours to feed around 0.2 million electricity driven pumps across the country, one PDB official said.
Rawzan-1, Ghorasal-5, Khulna , Asuganj-5, Haripur, Barapukuria-1, Karnophuli, Shajibazar and Baghabari power units now are out of order.
The maintenance work of Barapukuria coal-powered power plant is going to start by mid-November and it will remain out of the stream for next 45 days, which might cause a setback to power supply.
The acute power supply problem is likely to continue even in winter season as its demand will further rise during the period mainly for irrigation purposes.
Demand for power will stand at about 4800 megawatt (MW) during the winter against the generation of around 3500 MW, sources in the Power Development Board (PDB) said.
However, on Friday, the demand for power was 3750 MW against the power generation of 3200 mw.
A PDB official said: "Electricity consumption during the winter season might decline by around 600-700 MW, but irrigation in pastoral areas requires an excess of around 800 mw of power during the period."
"So, there will be no respite from load shedding this winter. But we will try to keep it under a tolerable level by overhauling and maintenance of shutdown power units," he added.
Last year, the country saw a shortfall of around 500 MW against the daily demand for power in winter. Besides, irrigation required an excess of around 600 MW. According to a PDB source, last year saw a daily demand at around 4,500 MW in winter while the power plants generated about 3,100 MW.
Even after overhauling and maintenance, the country would be able to generate around 3,500 MW of electricity this winter, which might leave a deficit of about 1300 MW with the estimated demand being around 4,800 MW from December through February, sources said.
Around 15-20 power units are out of operation, most of them being under maintenance work, he said.
The PDB set a record by producing 4130 MW of electricity on September 19, but it failed to maintain the pace.
It is now producing between 3300 MW and 3600 MW of electricity on an average. It needs to produce an extra 300 MW to 450 MW to power the irrigation pumps across the country from next month.
According to the Rural Electrification Board (REB), it needs 1600 MW and 1200 MW of electricity in peak and off-peak hours respectively. "During the irrigation season, we need around 1900-2000 MW in peak and 1500-1600 MW in off-peak hours to feed around 0.2 million electricity driven pumps across the country, one PDB official said.
Rawzan-1, Ghorasal-5, Khulna , Asuganj-5, Haripur, Barapukuria-1, Karnophuli, Shajibazar and Baghabari power units now are out of order.
The maintenance work of Barapukuria coal-powered power plant is going to start by mid-November and it will remain out of the stream for next 45 days, which might cause a setback to power supply.