Power generation at the Barapukuria Thermal Power Plant in Dinajpur had to be completely suspended from Tuesday morning due to mechanical faults, as its two operational units of the 525MW plant have gone offline one after another.
Chief Engineer Abu Bakar Siddique said the 125MW Unit-1, one of the two operational units, shut down at 6:20am Monday due to a mechanical fault.
The unit had been supplying 55MW of electricity daily to the national grid while in operation, he said.
Meanwhile, the 275MW Unit-3 shut down at 5:05am Tuesday following a mechanical fault caused by a grid failure, leaving the entire plant without power generation.
Bangladeshi engineers are working to repair Unit-1, while Chinese engineers are repairing Unit-3, said the chief engineer. However, he could not confirm when the units would resume power generation.
The suspension of generation from the two units has worsened load shedding and increased public suffering in Dinajpur and other parts of the Rangpur region.
The plant’s 125MW Unit-2 has also remained out of operation for a long time after becoming completely damaged