State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Aninda Islam Amit on Wednesday expressed firm optimism that the country’s electricity situation will see visible improvement within the next 15 days.
“The government is making all-out efforts to prevent a recurrence of the power and gas supply woes experienced in August,” he said in Parliament.
Replying to a supplementary question from opposition lawmaker Nurul Islam Bulbul, the state minister said the government is aware of the hardship caused by shortages of electricity and gas, and apologised for the situation.
“I am saying this with responsibility. I do not want to hide the truth behind mere words. The people of Bangladesh are currently suffering due to electricity and gas shortages,” he said.
Amit attributed the ongoing crisis largely to the consequences of long-standing policy mistakes in the power and energy sectors, compounded by the recent crisis in the Middle East, which he said created additional pressure on fuel supplies.
He also highlighted the constraints arising from Bangladesh’s heavy dependence on gas for power generation.
The state minister said the country’s gas-fired power plants have a combined generation capacity of around 12,000 megawatts and require nearly 1,900 million cubic feet of gas per day (mmcfd) to operate at full capacity.
Against this requirement, the current availability of gas from domestic production and imported liquefied natural gas (LNG) stands at around 2,300 to 2,700 mmcfd he said.
As a result, increasing gas allocation to power plants could disrupt supplies to industries and households, requiring the government to maintain a balance among the power, industrial and residential sectors, Amit said.
He said the shutdown of several power generation units has also contributed to the electricity shortage.
One 616MW unit of the Payra power plant is currently out of operation due to a technical fault, while another 616MW unit at Matarbari is undergoing maintenance, the state minister said.
He also said Bangladesh was receiving less electricity than contracted from India’s Adani Group.
Under the agreement, Bangladesh is supposed to receive 1,600MW from the group, but the actual supply currently stands at around 900MW during the daytime and about 1,100MW in the evening, Amit said.
He said faults at two floating storage regasification units (FSRUs), used to handle imported LNG, have also put significant pressure on the fuel supply system.
According to the state minister, the FSRU problems emerged on July 21 and took around 21-22 days to repair, affecting electricity generation as a result.
However, he claimed that around 88 percent of the crisis has already been addressed.
The government is now prioritising the early reopening of the affected units at the Payra and Matarbari power plants, Amit said.
“We are making every possible effort so that the people of Bangladesh do not have to endure the suffering they faced in August, at least during September,” he said.
Looking ahead to next summer, the state minister said the government is also pursuing longer-term measures, including rooftop solar, to strengthen electricity supply.
He expressed hope that the rooftop solar policy adopted by the government will help prevent people from facing the level of power-related hardship experienced during the current period next summer.
Amit said concerns raised by lawmakers over the power and energy situation are natural, adding that the government will seek to provide parliamentarians with accurate information and address misunderstandings surrounding the sector.