Wärtsilä, a global leading power plant and shipping equipments manufacturer, looks at growing double in Bangladesh by the next 15 years, as it sees the market very potential thanks to the country's rising economic growth that requires more power generation, its top official said.
"We know the government's plan is to double its installed power capacity within the next 15 years, which is essential for growth. Well established in this market, we have big ambition to continue growing. We hope to double ourselves in the next 15 years," Björn Rosengren, president and CEO of Wärtsilä Corporation, told a group of journalists at a press briefing Monday.
Mr Rosengren was in Dhaka in two-day visit especially to meet with the company's stakeholders here. The briefing was addressed, among others, by Rakesh Sarin, president, power plants & executive vice president, Wärtsilä Corporation, Marco Wirén, executive vice president and CFO, and Jillur Rahim, managing director of Wärtsilä Bangladesh Limited.
Of the total delivery of Wärtsilä in 170 countries, around 5.0 per cent is in Bangladesh. Started journey in early 90s in the country, it has already supported installation of 40 power plants, having capacity of 2,200 megawatt (MW). Globally, the amount is 55,000 mw and its total turnover was 4.8 billion euro last year.
Wärtsilä in Bangladesh basically supplies different equipments including engine of power plants and built those as per demand of the customers. It also supports in shipping industry and provide life-cycle service solutions to both the sectors.
"In the near future, there will be big need for power in growing Bangladesh market; because, power is essential for any emerging market like Bangladesh having ambition to grow. So, it is a big market for us," Mr Rosengren said.
"Our technology is very suited for the Bangladesh market," the officials said, and explained it saying that "Bangladesh needs very efficient solution. Today, it is working on heavy fuel oil (HFO). Like the world going towards liquefied natural gas (LNG), Bangladesh having local gas is also aspiring to develop LNG. We have technology, which suits to both the needs of the country. Even we have engines of dual fuel-- gas and HFO."
"We also build the power plant from small plant of 10 mw to big plant of 600 mw. Our system can build the plant in a very quick and cost effective way," Mr Rosengren said.
Citing its efficiency and expertise in gas engine, the Wärtsilä CEO said that they have developed gas engine long ago in 1987 when even the use of gas didn't get such impetus; this long experience in gas engine is helping the company to this development in the market.
In a question, Mr Jillur Rahim said that Wärtsilä also have business in Bangladesh's shipping industry but in limited scale as, he said, the sector is yet in the nascent stage. "With the growth of the industry, we are hoping to be heavily involved in the shipping sector too in the days coming."
The Wärtsilä MD in Bangladesh chapter further said that the government is very cooperative to and happy with their plants. It has some plants with the government too under long term service agreement.
Mr Rakesh Sarin said that they already invested in two workshops too -- Dhaka and Chittagong--, have an office in Dhaka. Some 130 people are supporting the installations of power plants in Bangladesh.
A part of the company's investment is being spent in competence development in Bangladesh; "We take engineers from Finland and European countries, and train the people here as this is very high technology plant. So, many old Wärtsilä people are there at a lot of industries operating such kind of power plants," he said.
In a query about their possible support in facing any trouble like recent Power Grid collapse in Bangladesh, Mr Rakesh Sarin said that there is a Wärtsilä technology, which can come parallel to the grid in five-ten minutes in such any situation.
"This time, it took longer time. In case of such future catastrophe, our team here is now discussing with the government and the Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDP) that we can take a more proactive role in bringing power to normal scenario in a quicker timeframe," he said.
Responding to another query, Mr Rakesh further said that Wärtsilä has presence in the field of LNG terminals too. "We build small to medium scale LNG terminals; probably, Bangladesh may also needs this kind of terminals in the future."
"Many of these terminals are built with combination with the power plants because you need a lot of power for these terminals. Our first LNG terminal was established in Finland recently. In the next 5-10 years, there will have a large number of LNG terminals to be built in many different parts of the world," he added.
He further answered to another question saying that price of engines normally remain on rise as newer level of efficiency in developing the engines needs a lot of money, causing up in price.
Mr Rahim added that there is little opportunity for hydro-power plant in Bangladesh as the country doesn't have suitable mountainous region and a lot of rainfall; rather it is a plain-land country. However, "Our technology is flexible to and works with combination with hydro power plants," Mr Rosengren added.
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