The saga of power and energy sector
energy sector, | Wednesday, 6 April 2011
energy sector,
Shafiqul Alam With the advent of summer, power supply situation has become precarious, although the government has been working to improve the situation for the last two years. Things are getting even worse. In the prevalence of frequent loadshedding, the government has revised power tariff. There would be a further review of tariff this year as well. It is becoming double jeopardy-higher tariff in presence of load shedding. Due to the lack of investment, gap between demand and supply of gas has been increasing at an alarming rate. Low gas pressure in the household is a normal scenario. CNG stations are kept shut down for four hours everyday. Though new gas connection has been suspended, electricity generation capacity has not been reached its optimum. We are heavily dependent on natural gas but we are a bit reluctant too to search new gas reservoir to keep pace with the growing demand. Despite conducting many seismic surveys during the last decade, we have not been able to find reliable sources to explore. More than 80 per cent electricity, the figure which is more than any other country, is generated from gas. The reason is very simple -- cheap gas. Generation cost of electricity by diesel per unit is approximately Tk 15.00 against Tk 9.00-10.00 by furnace oil, whereas the cost is only Tk 1.00-2.00 per unit by gas. The gas price was never adjusted with other fuels as everyone considered that the country is flooded by gas. That's why most of the industries, including fertilizer industries rely on gas. No gas metering system for household use has made many people so casual that they even use gas burner to dry their clothes. The forecast on the gas stock in Sangu is far from reality. Industries in Chittagong, dependent on Sangu, have been facing serious problems. In view of the situation the government has decided to import Liquid Natural Gas (LNG). The terminal to supply gas through pipelines would be located at Maheshkhali. Besides the import cost, the pipelines have to be installed involving a huge expenditure. Again, whether the set-up would be completed on time is a big question. If the deadline, fixed by the government is not met, the situation in the industries based in Chittagong will be even worse. This is a cruel reality that the government is going to import gas where as once it was a well established fact that Bangladesh would export gas. Again, had the government taken the step to import gas earlier, the situation would not have gone so worse. The government should take extra bit of care to import LNG in order to keep smooth operation in the industries. The experts are of the opinion that the chance of getting unlimited source of gas is over ambitious; rather some medium size gas fields, if found, would be helpful to meet just the nearby demand but not the long term dearth. Import of LNG, in the present context, could be an alternative but the price would not be as cheap. There are some 20 blocks in the deep sea, but some of them are claimed by India and Myanmar. The issue, a lengthy one, awaits settlement in the International Court. The other blocks, 10 & 11, could have been explored in the mean time. Even though the tendering process was started back in 2007, no advancement has taken place yet. For power generation, many years back, the government should have searched for alternative sources instead of gas. Presently, the government is in a dual crisis - whether to supply gas to the industries, or for power generation. At the same time there is gas shortage as well. The dilemma is not limited to this. Due to lack of proper planning, the government has approved many CNG stations and allowed private cars to run on CNG. What would be the situation if those converted automobiles don't get gas? To make a balance between the present electricity crisis and the future demand of electricity, coal should be used and at the same time, constant supply of coal has to be ensured. But the status of mining is known to all. Coal mining policy has not been finalised yet. Recently, the Power Development Board PDB has decided to take foreign coal mines on lease to feed coal based power plants. Then what would be the fate of our coal mines? Even though, some new power plants have been installed, many old power plants, which are delivering even less than 50 per cent of capacity, need overhauling; and thus there is a huge shortfall. The present government has already completed more than two years of its stipulated time, but the saga continues with no sign of abating. The government should fix a guideline, which is practical and attainable in the shortest possible time, to solve the power and energy sector saga. The writer is an engineer and can be reached at e-mail: shafiqul0032@yahoo.com
Shafiqul Alam With the advent of summer, power supply situation has become precarious, although the government has been working to improve the situation for the last two years. Things are getting even worse. In the prevalence of frequent loadshedding, the government has revised power tariff. There would be a further review of tariff this year as well. It is becoming double jeopardy-higher tariff in presence of load shedding. Due to the lack of investment, gap between demand and supply of gas has been increasing at an alarming rate. Low gas pressure in the household is a normal scenario. CNG stations are kept shut down for four hours everyday. Though new gas connection has been suspended, electricity generation capacity has not been reached its optimum. We are heavily dependent on natural gas but we are a bit reluctant too to search new gas reservoir to keep pace with the growing demand. Despite conducting many seismic surveys during the last decade, we have not been able to find reliable sources to explore. More than 80 per cent electricity, the figure which is more than any other country, is generated from gas. The reason is very simple -- cheap gas. Generation cost of electricity by diesel per unit is approximately Tk 15.00 against Tk 9.00-10.00 by furnace oil, whereas the cost is only Tk 1.00-2.00 per unit by gas. The gas price was never adjusted with other fuels as everyone considered that the country is flooded by gas. That's why most of the industries, including fertilizer industries rely on gas. No gas metering system for household use has made many people so casual that they even use gas burner to dry their clothes. The forecast on the gas stock in Sangu is far from reality. Industries in Chittagong, dependent on Sangu, have been facing serious problems. In view of the situation the government has decided to import Liquid Natural Gas (LNG). The terminal to supply gas through pipelines would be located at Maheshkhali. Besides the import cost, the pipelines have to be installed involving a huge expenditure. Again, whether the set-up would be completed on time is a big question. If the deadline, fixed by the government is not met, the situation in the industries based in Chittagong will be even worse. This is a cruel reality that the government is going to import gas where as once it was a well established fact that Bangladesh would export gas. Again, had the government taken the step to import gas earlier, the situation would not have gone so worse. The government should take extra bit of care to import LNG in order to keep smooth operation in the industries. The experts are of the opinion that the chance of getting unlimited source of gas is over ambitious; rather some medium size gas fields, if found, would be helpful to meet just the nearby demand but not the long term dearth. Import of LNG, in the present context, could be an alternative but the price would not be as cheap. There are some 20 blocks in the deep sea, but some of them are claimed by India and Myanmar. The issue, a lengthy one, awaits settlement in the International Court. The other blocks, 10 & 11, could have been explored in the mean time. Even though the tendering process was started back in 2007, no advancement has taken place yet. For power generation, many years back, the government should have searched for alternative sources instead of gas. Presently, the government is in a dual crisis - whether to supply gas to the industries, or for power generation. At the same time there is gas shortage as well. The dilemma is not limited to this. Due to lack of proper planning, the government has approved many CNG stations and allowed private cars to run on CNG. What would be the situation if those converted automobiles don't get gas? To make a balance between the present electricity crisis and the future demand of electricity, coal should be used and at the same time, constant supply of coal has to be ensured. But the status of mining is known to all. Coal mining policy has not been finalised yet. Recently, the Power Development Board PDB has decided to take foreign coal mines on lease to feed coal based power plants. Then what would be the fate of our coal mines? Even though, some new power plants have been installed, many old power plants, which are delivering even less than 50 per cent of capacity, need overhauling; and thus there is a huge shortfall. The present government has already completed more than two years of its stipulated time, but the saga continues with no sign of abating. The government should fix a guideline, which is practical and attainable in the shortest possible time, to solve the power and energy sector saga. The writer is an engineer and can be reached at e-mail: shafiqul0032@yahoo.com