Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has inaugurated five power plants as the government planned to bring the country’s 100 percent population under electricity coverage.

Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the power plants, having a total electricity generation capacity of 779MW, through a videoconference from Ganobhaban on Sunday.

The five power plants are Bibiyana-III 400MW Combined Cycle Power Plant in Habiganj, Zulda, Chittagong 100MW Power Plant Unit-2, Meghnaghat 104MW Power Plant in Narayanganj, Modhumoti 100MW Power Plant in Bagerhat and upgradation of Sylhet 150MW Power Plant to 225MW Combined Cycle Power Plant in Sylhet.

Prime Minister's Power and Energy advisor Dr Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury, State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid, the Power Secretary and the chairman of the Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) were present at Bijoy Hall of Bidyut Bhaban during the opening ceremony.

According to the Power Ministry, the government has successfully constructed 119 power plants with an electricity production capacity of 20,293MW since assuming power in 2009.

The government had targeted to generate 24,000 MW electricity by 2021, and the target has already been exceeded as it reached 25,235 MW (including captive power), which was 4,942 MW in 2009, bringing around 99.5 percent of the population under electricity coverage.

The ministry says the per capita electricity generation reached 560kWh, which was only 220kWh in 2009. The system loss has been brought down to 8.49 percent from 14.33 percent, it added.

Larsen and Toubro (L&T), a leading India-based multinational conglomerate, has commissioned the 400 MW Bibiyana-III Combined Cycle Power Plant, located near the Sylhet division, for the Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB).

L&T executed its first gas turbine-based power plant for BPDB at Chittagong by constructing 225 MW Sikalbaha power plant and this was closely followed by 410 MW Bheramara CCPP in Kushtia for North West Power Generation Limited (NWPGCL).

In all these projects, L&T performed end-to-end responsibility including design, engineering, supply, installation and commissioning of the complete power plant. L&T has installed & commissioned most advanced state of the art Gas Turbines and Steam Turbines from OEMs of global repute at these power plants.

With the addition of power from Bibiyana Power Plants, the L&T-executed power plants have successfully added more than 1.0 GW of Clean and Green power to the Bangladesh national grid in the last five years.

Came into operation on March 20, 2020, Chittagong 100MW Power Plant Unit-2 was implemented as an independent power plant (IPP) by the private sponsor Acorn Infrastructure Service Unit-2 Limited under a power purchase agreement with state-owned Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB).

The Meghnaghat 104 MW power plant, which started its operation on June 30 2020, was implemented by Orion Power Sonargaon Limited as IPP under a PPA with the BPDB while Modhumati 100 MW power plant was set up by the state-owned North-West Power Generation Company Limited which was installed by Chinese EPC contractor China National Machinery Import and Export Corporation (CMC). The plant came into operation in April 2019.

The Sylhet 225 MW power plant was upgraded as a combined cycle power plant from a 150 MW plant by the BPDB through the Chinese EPC (Engineering, Procurement and Construction) contractor Shanghai Electric Group Company Ltd.