The second stakeholder meeting on the proposed Integrated Energy and Power Master Plan (IEPMP) will be held in the city on Sunday.

Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources (MPEMR) will jointly hold the meeting.

Tokyo-based consulting firm Institute of Energy Economics-Japan (IEEJ) has been engaged to prepare the integrated master plan following an agreement between the Bangladesh government and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), signed on March 15 in 2021.

It held the first stakeholder meeting in November 2021 to kickoff its job.

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According to official sources, the Japanese firm held a series of meetings in the past one-and-a-half years with stakeholders, including energy professionals, academics and also different private and public entities to get their views on the future master plan.

About the proposed plan, Power Cell director Mohammad Hossain said that the Japanese firm’s job is now at the concluding stage as it has planned to submit its first final report by December.

“This is for the first time that the government has moved to formulate an integrated master plan comprising both power and energy issues," he told UNB.

Previously, separate master plans were framed for the power sector and energy sector and there was little coordination between the two sectors.

Official sources said the government has moved to formulate the integrated master plan with a focus on the "3E+S" concept, after responding to the suggestions of energy experts.

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According to sources, '3E+S' concept will be pursued in preparing the new plan for ensuring 'Energy Security', 'Economic Efficiency', and 'Environment' while focusing on 'Safety'.

As per the contract, the Japanese firm is supposed to formulate the plan within 30 months of the signing of the agreement.

JICA, which has been funding the entire project, said that in view of the need for a long-term low-carbon energy policy, it will support the formulation of the master plan.

The Japanese donor agency had earlier provided the financial and technical support for formulating all the previous power system master plans (PSMPs) until 2016.

Official sources said the JICA consultant will study the country's 8th Five-year Development Plan, gas sector master plan 2017, and revise the power system master plant 2016 and other relevant policies.

It will prepare the prospects for economic development and energy demand forecast by 2050 with a focus on energy efficiency and conservation.

In the existing power system master plan (PSMP) 2016, about 60,000 MW of power generation was targeted by 2041.

The BPDB official data shows the country’s total generation capacity is 25,235 MW, of which grid-connected generation is 22,348 MW up to April this year while the remaining 2,887 MW is captive generation, mainly produced by industry owners, exclusively for running their own industries.

The country’s highest generation was recorded at 14,782 MW on April 16, meaning that the surplus capacity is 10,453 MW (about 41 per cent).

Currently, 50 per cent of power is being generated from gas while less than 10 per cent is from coal and about 30 per cent is generated from imported liquid fuel.