Tk 410b investments to be needed until 2014 to streamline power sector
Tuesday, 4 August 2009
M Azizur Rahman
The country would require investments worth Tk 410 billion in next five years until 2014 to streamline the power sector and fend off the nagging load-shedding, officials said Monday.
"Out of the total investments, Tk 300 billion will be required for electricity generation, Tk 40 billion for transmission and Tk 70 billion for distribution," a senior energy ministry official told the FE.
He said the energy ministry last week informed the Prime Minister of the investment requirement.
Augmenting electricity generation and easing the load-shedding are among the key issues the incumbent government took as priorities.
It pledged to increase electricity generation to 5,000 megawatts (mw) by 2011, and to 7,000 mw by 2013.
Country's electricity generation is now hovering around 3,700 mw against the demand for over 5500 mw during peak hours.
As per the Power Sector Master Plan (PSMP) the country's electricity demand would be over 9,000 mw by 2014.
The energy ministry is now looking into several strategies, prepared by state-owned Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB), to resolve the power crisis in next half a decade.
It convened an important meeting today (Tuesday) and summoned top officials of all the state-owned gas, power and oil entities to select one of those strategies and subsequently stick to that until reaching the target, the energy ministry official said.
"We have prepared four separate plans taking into account the country's energy availability to generate electricity," BPDB member (generation) Tapan Kumar Chowdhury told the FE.
He said diesel and furnace oil-fired power plants may play a significant role in quick fixing the country's growing power crisis as gas is drying up fast with coal not an interim solution.
"We will have to set up fuel-based power plants having the generation capacity of 1,500 megawatts (mw) if we want to end the crisis completely in the next two years," the BPDB top official said.
Out of the total, 1,000 mw would be generated by burning furnace oil and 500 mw by diesel, he said, adding that this additional power could end load-shedding until 2011.
Some 750 mw of electricity --- 250 mw from diesel-run power plants and 500 mw from furnace oil based plants --- is required to ensure countrywide power supply with 'mild load-shedding', said the official.
The government will have to generate at least 500 mw of new electricity from furnace oil if it wants to maintain 'tolerable load-shedding' in power supply, he added.
The government would have to count huge amounts subsidy if it chooses any of the above plans to improve the electricity supply situation across the country, energy ministry officials said.
"But we have no other option," he said.
Currently over 80 per cent of the country's total power plants are run by natural gas.
But the gas supply situation has now become so critical that a number of gas-fired power plants having the generation capacity of around 600 mw now remained idle only due to the crunch.
Three state-owned fertiliser factories also remained shut diverting gas to the gas-fired power plants.
Besides, the Power Development Board has feared that if no new strategy is adopted, the gas supply uncertainty may lead to more than 3000 mw load-shedding in the year 2014 as gas supply to several under-construction projects having the generation capacity of around 1,620 mw is not certain.
The country would require investments worth Tk 410 billion in next five years until 2014 to streamline the power sector and fend off the nagging load-shedding, officials said Monday.
"Out of the total investments, Tk 300 billion will be required for electricity generation, Tk 40 billion for transmission and Tk 70 billion for distribution," a senior energy ministry official told the FE.
He said the energy ministry last week informed the Prime Minister of the investment requirement.
Augmenting electricity generation and easing the load-shedding are among the key issues the incumbent government took as priorities.
It pledged to increase electricity generation to 5,000 megawatts (mw) by 2011, and to 7,000 mw by 2013.
Country's electricity generation is now hovering around 3,700 mw against the demand for over 5500 mw during peak hours.
As per the Power Sector Master Plan (PSMP) the country's electricity demand would be over 9,000 mw by 2014.
The energy ministry is now looking into several strategies, prepared by state-owned Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB), to resolve the power crisis in next half a decade.
It convened an important meeting today (Tuesday) and summoned top officials of all the state-owned gas, power and oil entities to select one of those strategies and subsequently stick to that until reaching the target, the energy ministry official said.
"We have prepared four separate plans taking into account the country's energy availability to generate electricity," BPDB member (generation) Tapan Kumar Chowdhury told the FE.
He said diesel and furnace oil-fired power plants may play a significant role in quick fixing the country's growing power crisis as gas is drying up fast with coal not an interim solution.
"We will have to set up fuel-based power plants having the generation capacity of 1,500 megawatts (mw) if we want to end the crisis completely in the next two years," the BPDB top official said.
Out of the total, 1,000 mw would be generated by burning furnace oil and 500 mw by diesel, he said, adding that this additional power could end load-shedding until 2011.
Some 750 mw of electricity --- 250 mw from diesel-run power plants and 500 mw from furnace oil based plants --- is required to ensure countrywide power supply with 'mild load-shedding', said the official.
The government will have to generate at least 500 mw of new electricity from furnace oil if it wants to maintain 'tolerable load-shedding' in power supply, he added.
The government would have to count huge amounts subsidy if it chooses any of the above plans to improve the electricity supply situation across the country, energy ministry officials said.
"But we have no other option," he said.
Currently over 80 per cent of the country's total power plants are run by natural gas.
But the gas supply situation has now become so critical that a number of gas-fired power plants having the generation capacity of around 600 mw now remained idle only due to the crunch.
Three state-owned fertiliser factories also remained shut diverting gas to the gas-fired power plants.
Besides, the Power Development Board has feared that if no new strategy is adopted, the gas supply uncertainty may lead to more than 3000 mw load-shedding in the year 2014 as gas supply to several under-construction projects having the generation capacity of around 1,620 mw is not certain.