United News of Bangladesh

Payra Thermal Power Plant’s operations came to a complete halt at 12:05 pm today, with its second unit shutting down due to coal crisis. The shutdown of the power plant worsened an already severe load shedding situation in Dhaka city and elsewhere, according to BPDB officials. Earier, the other 660 MW unit of the power plant was closed on May 25. BPDB officials said due to the shutdown of the second unit of Payra power plant, the country’s load shedding has increased to 2675 MW at 12 pm today, which was 2287 MW on Sunday. It means the country had to experience 388 MW of added load shedding due to the closure of Payra power plant's operations, said an official of BPDB referring to the data of the National Load Despatch Centre (NLDC). He said the country generated 12099 MW of electricity against a demand of 14900 at 12 pm today. NLDC’s evening forecast shows that the country’s demand will go up to 15800 MW when generation is expected to be 14,400 MW. Also Read: Coal shortage: Production at another unit of Payra power plant may suspend after June 2 However, officials said the country may experience more than 3500 MW of load shedding in the evening peak period The 1,320 MW coal-fired power plant is expected to resume operations on July 1 as the process of importing coal has already started through the opening of LC, said Shah Abdul Hasib, superintendent engineer (operation) at the plant. He said the shipment will arrive by June 25. “After the shipment of coal arrives, we will be able to resume the plant’s operation by July 1,” he said. He said opening LC takes some time due to the current global situation and dollar crisis. Payra power plant needs to import 3 lakh metric tonnes of coal every month to operate the plant in full capacity. Also Read: Operation of 1,320 MW coal-fired Payra power plant is likely to face closure over coal crisis The power plant has to spend about US$ 5-6 million every month to import the required coal. Payra power plant officials said the power plant is burning some 13,000 tonnes of coal a day. It has a 76.30-acre dumping zone where 25 years’ worth of by-products can be kept. The plant is currently importing coal from Indonesia. It has its own jetty, whose conveyor belts can unload 3,200 tonnes of coal every hour from four vessels at a time. After undergoing test runs for about five months, the first unit of the Payra power plant started commercial operation in May 2020. In October 2020, the second unit of the 660 MW plant, a joint venture of Bangladesh and China, started its commercial operation.  

The unpaid bills to the private power plant operators have now crossed $2.5 billion as the government has failed to pay since May this year. “Our payments have been cleared until May...For the last 5 months no payment has been received from the government”, Imran Karim, president of the Bangladesh Independent Power Producers Association (Bippa), told UNB. The association is the apex body of the private power producers in the country. The association president also claimed that despite a harsh reality, the private plant operators have been making their highest efforts to continue power generation and supplying electricity to the national grid for the sake of the interest of the nation. “But some of the plant operators have now become unable to generate electricity from their plants as they could not import furnace oil due to the fund crisis”, he noted. Read more: Tk 1893 crore unpaid as electricity bill by govt ministries, departments, Nasrul Hamid tells JS Officials of the state-owned Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) admitted about the non-payment of the bills against the electricity purchased from the private power plant operators. true, the private plant operators did not get any bill after May this year”, said Sheikh Aktar Hossain, member (finance) of the BPDB. He, however, said the government is trying to clear the payment. “BPDB will take measures as per the directive of the government”, he told UNB. Sources said the government on an average has to pay about Tk5,400 crore per month to the private sector against the purchase of electricity from the private plants. It was Tk 4000 crore before the increase in fuel and US dollar price. Read more: Nasrul Hamid now hopes power supply situation will improve from Nov Considering these statistics, the total unpaid bills will be around Tk 27,000 crore or $2.575 billion (considering US dollar exchange rate at Tk 105), he added. The government purchases electricity from the private sector at the US dollar as per the agreement with them, he noted. Beyond this liabilities with the private sector, the BPDB purchases electricity from some power plants under different state-owned companies like Ashuganj Power Station Company Limited, Bangladesh-China Power Company (Pvt) Limited (BCPCL), Rural Power Company Limited (RPCL) and B-R Power Gen Ltd. The BPDB has similar power purchase agreements (PPA) with the companies and it has to buy electricity of Tk 2,200 crore on an average per month from them. The BPDB has unpaid bills of 11,000 crore to these companies, said a BPDB official requesting anonymity. Read more: 2 weeks after grid failure, Ghorashal Power Station’s unit-5 resumes operation Currently, the country’s power generation capacity is over 25,500 MW and more than 50 percent of electricity is generated by the private sector through their independent power producer (IPP), rental and quick rental power plants. Import of electricity from India is also counted as private sector generation. The private sector operators mainly use furnace oil and diesel to generate electricity while natural gas is used in some plants. Of these, 4,700 MW is generated by using furnace oil. According to Sustainable and Renewable Energy Development Authority (Sreda), of the total 25585 MW of generation capacity comprising both public and private sector plants, currently 1768 MW (6.91 %) is coal-based), 11330 MW (44.28 %) gas-based, 6238 MW (24.38 %) furnace oil (HFO) based, 1341 MW (5.24 %) diesel-based (HSD), Imported 1160 MW (4.53 %), renewable 948.12 MW (3.71 %) and captive is 2800 MW (10.94 %). Read More: Nasrul Hamid under fire in Parliament for electricity crisis Private sector power industry insiders said that recently the private plants operators had to suspend about 800 MW of their furnace oil-based electricity generation because of the fund shortage. “We had to suspend our operation because of a lack of furnace oil. We can’t import fuel as we are not getting bills from the government”, said one operator preferring anonymity. According to the sources, of the 800 MW now remaining suspended are EnergyPac’s 230 MW, Hosaf’s 113 MW, Ray Lanka’s 200 MW, Desh Energy’s 200 MW, and Ena Power’s 50 MW. BPDB has been in a cash crunch for the last several months which forced the organisation to move a proposal to the energy regulator to raise the electricity price at bulk level. Read More: 80 lakh people remain without electricity: Nasrul Hamid But the Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) held a public hearing on the issue in May this year and finally rejected the BPDB’s plea on October 13 through its decision. The BPDB documents reveal the government has to spend a total of Tk 71,878 crore in the FY2021-22 for total power production, of which Tk 44,434 crore will be spent for purchasing electricity from the private sector. Of this amount, Tk 37,963 crore will be required to purchase electricity from the independent power producer (IPP) and small IPP plants in the private sector which produce 38 per cent (8,807 MW) of the total generation. Bippa officials said the delay in payment is not the only problem that the private power producers are facing. “The shooting trend in dollar price, unavailability of the green bucks with banks and counting penalties for delayed payment to foreign lenders and equipment suppliers have been the major problems”, said the Bippa president. Read More: Nepal will export up to 50 MW electricity to Bangladesh for now, envoy tells PM

Already hit hard by a drought-like situation in the district and rising fertiliser rates, farmers of Jhenaidah have been dealt another severe blow -- this time, by the recent fuel price hike and power crisis in the country. Farmers say their agricultural fields have dried up due to inadequate rainfall and their inability to continuously irrigate the same using diesel-powered pumps that entails a huge operational cost given the recent fuel price hike in Bangladesh. Besides, the prices of fertilisers have also increased over the past year, multiplying the losses of the farmers. Majnur Rahman of Rangiyarpota village in Sadar upazila, cultivated Ropa Aman on just five-and-a-half bighas of his eight-bigha land this year. "Rising fuel and fertiliser prices forced me to take such a decision." Another farmer, Jamal Uddin Biswas, expresses frustration over the recent fuel price hike. "If the fuel prices are not reduced, we will have to bear huge losses as the cultivation target will not be met this year," he says. Farmer Somir Uddin says the Aman paddy needs plenty of rainfall. "Due to scanty rains this year, farmers need to spend an extra Tk 1,200 per bigha for irrigation." Read:Why fuel price hike through gazette notification should not be declared illegal: HC Many farmers have demanded the provision of low-cost diesel through agricultural cards if the government cannot reduce fuel prices. "If the prices of fertilisers, fuel and electricity are increased in this agriculture-dependent country in this way, farmers will be forced to give up farming at some point,” Somir Uddin adds. Azgar Ali, deputy director of Jhenaidah Agricultural Extension Department, says a target has been set for the cultivation of Ropa Aman on 1,04,750 hectares of land in the district this year. "By mid-August, 53,262 hectares have been cultivated only. Besides, various types of vegetables are being cultivated on 2,554 hectares of land," he says. According to Azgar, there are two lakh farmer families in the district. "The target has not been met yet as the farmers could not irrigate their fields due to lack of water amid this fuel price hike and power crisis.We are advising the farmers to try their best to meet the target of Aman cultivation.” The government hiked the prices of fuel by a big margin on August 5. Diesel prices were increased by Tk 34 to Tk 114 per litre, octane by Tk 46 to Tk 135 per litre and petrol by Tk 44 to Tk 130 a litre. The government also recently embarked on rationing of power to tackle the ongoing energy crisis in the country.

Bangladesh's escalating power crisis that is delivering hours-long outages has hit Bagerhat hard -- businesses are struggling to survive and students finding it hard to sit in classes. Bagerhat town has been witnessing outages at least three to four times a day with discoms resorting to rationing of power across the country to tide over the energy crisis. The rural areas of the district are the worst hit.  Bagerhat Palli Bidyut Samity that supplies power to the rural areas faces a shortage of 25MW of electricity daily. On the other hand, West Zone Power Distribution Company Ltd that powers Bagerhat town faces a shortfall of 2.5MW daily. The scheduled and unscheduled power cuts have brought almost all businesses -- from small- and medium-sized shops to factories -- to their knees in Bagerhat. Production in the factories have been hit the most. Sheikh Bashirul Islam of Bangladesh Shop Owners’ Association, urged the discoms to ensure uninterrupted power supply to the commercial and industrial hubs of the district to keep the wheels of the economy moving. “We need electricity round-the-clock to sustain our businesses. The business areas must be kept outside the purview of load shedding,” Bashirul told UNB. According to Bagerhat District Education Officer Md Kamruzzaman, a total of 96,774 students study across 524 educational institutions in the district. “Due to outages, multimedia classes can’t be conducted. Besides, lights and fans remain out of order most of the time. As a result, education in the district is getting hindered,” Kamruzzaman said. Read:Power Outages: BNP announces 3-day protest programme

Accusing the Awami League government of ruining the country’s economy through widespread corruption and plundering, BNP on Friday warned that the foreign exchange reserves also may get depleted in the days to come after power and energy crisis. “The bell of the government’s downfall has begun to toll. There’s a now crisis of power and then we’ll face the shortage of fuel oil. After that, you’ll see the reserves are running out,” he said. Speaking at a rally, Fakhrul said the country’s people are going through immense sufferings since the prices of all essentials have skyrocketed. “This government is destroying the economy of Bangladesh in a planned way. Their only purpose is to indulge in corruption and looting. So our now one-point demand is the resignation of the government,” the BNP leader said. He urged the government to dissolve parliament and hand over power to a neutral caretaker government by stepping down, paving the way for holding a credible election under a reconstituted Election Commission. Read:Power Outages: BNP announces 3-day protest programme “Wake up as we have no more time in our hands. We must oust this fascist and corrupt regime,” the BNP leader said pointing at his party leaders and activists. BNP’s Dhaka north city unit arranged the programme in protest against the 'unprecedented' load-shedding and the hikes in fuel and gas prices. Fakhrul said Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal admitted seeking a $4.5 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), though last week he denied it. “This is how this government resorts to blatant lies and deceives and fools people. But they are empty inside. They’re making the country bankrupt by depleting the money resources,” he observed. Narrating a frightening economic condition, he said the government has not more than $16 billion usable forex reserves in the country. “They are turning Bangladesh into a failed state. So, we can’t give Awami League any more time and chance. The more they stay in power, the faster the destruction of the country will accelerate,” the BNP leader said. He also slammed his ruling party counterpart Obaidul Quader for his comment that there is no shortage of power and fuel oil in the country. “Why are you carrying out load-shedding for even 8 hours, if there is no shortage? Why are you rationing gas? Why are the experts talking about an ominous sign for Bangladesh? The BNP secretary general alleged that the government has destroyed the energy sector of Bangladesh through corruption and plundering.  "People in cities are now experiencing power outages for two-three hours while people in the rural areas where electricity is needed for irrigation during Boro season are facing this problem for seven-eight hours. But this government looted thousands of crores of taka in the name of electricity generation and siphoned it abroad,” alleged Fakhrul.

In next six months several private producers will be ready to supply 5,350 MW of electricity to the national grid under agreements with the government. You are wrong if you think it’s going to ease the ongoing power crisis in the country.  Worse still, the state-owned Bangladesh Power Development Board will have little use of this new electricity even though it is likely to pay in crores of taka in capacity charges to the producers further bulging the government’s spending on available but unused power. Capacity payment is considered a penalty for the BPDB as the government fails to purchase the power available with the power plants for supply to the national grid under agreements. The government has recently been under fire from energy experts for continuing with the capacity payment for idle electricity amid rising economic problems. As per the government’s power purchase agreement (PPA) with the private producers, the entire payments will be made in foreign currency mounting a new pressure on declining foreign exchange reserves, official sources said speaking on condition of anonymity due to the subject’s sensitivity. Also read: Battery-run rickshaws continue to operate amid massive power cuts According to the sources, despite an improvement in payment the government still owes $1.5 billion to the private power plant operators for purchase of electricity. This arrear bills may increase as a fall-out of the new arrivals. The sources said, of the 5,346 MW electricity, scheduled to be added to the national grid from November 2022-to February 2022, some 1,600 MW will come from Adani Group’s coal-fired power plant in the Indian state of Jharkhand, 620 MW from Rampal Power Plant, 1224 MW from S Alam Group’s power plant in Bashkhali of Chattagram, 718 MW electricity from Reliance Power LNG-based Plant in Meghnaghat and another 600 MW from LNG-based GE-Summit power plant in Meghnaghat, and 584 MW from LNG-based Unique Group’s power plant in Meghnaghat.  

National Committee for Protection of Oil-Gas and Mineral Resources, Electricity Sector and Ports has identified nine specific reasons for the current situation in the power sector.  In a statement on Sunday, signed by the committee member and also general secretary of the Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB) Ruhin Hossain Prince, the organisation said that wrong policy pursued by the government to serve the interest of the foreign companies and also corruptions have led to the current crisis in the power sector. Read: Outage in Dhaka as discoms ration power Demanding the punishment to those persons responsible for the crisis, the committee said a section of local and foreign companies and their commission agents have benefited from this wrong policies and corruption. The nine reasons which the committee identified for the crisis, include development of power plants based on oil-coal-and LNG import-dependent policy, setting up rental, quick rental and other types of power plants that have been provided with Tk 54,000 crore as capacity charges, keeping the rental, quick rental and other oil-based power plants idle and increased dependence on LNG-import for power plant operations. Read: Chinese envoy meets FM The other reasons are Avoiding and ignoring renewable energy options, lacking initiatives for local gas explorations, non-utilisation of the potentials in offshore gas exploration after settlement of the maritime boundary disputes with the neighboring Myanmar and India, giving no attention to strengthening state-owned company Bapex for gas exploration, ignoring environment protection in setting up Rampal power plant and also lacking of initiative in appointing contractors to explore hydrocarbon be ensuring country’s ownership.

The government has decided to resort to daily 2 hours area-based load-shedding across the country from Tuesday in a bid to tackle the ongoing power crisis. Prime Minister’s Energy advisor Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury announced the decision after a high level meeting at the Prime Minister’s Office on Monday. State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid and principal Secretary to the Prime Minister Dr Ahmad Kaikaus also attended the meeting. Tawfiq-e-Elahi said the power distribution entities will conduct the load shedding under a schedule so that the people get time to take preparation for it and do not feel any disturbance. Read: PM seeks people’s support to cut power subsidy amid hard times But in each spell, no load shedding will continue more than half an hour, he said. He said the diesel-run power plants will remain closed until further order to save petroleum fuels while the shopping malls and markets will have to be closed by 8 pm. He said some options like keeping petrol pumps closed one day a week were discussed at the meeting. He said the government office hours may be rescheduled while virtual meetings will be held instead of those with physical presence.