Frequent power cuts continue in Bangladesh

[Homo Sapiens]

Frequent power cuts continue in Bangladesh​

United News of Bangladesh . Dhaka | Published: 21:12, Jul 05,2022 | Updated: 00:20, Jul 06,2022

Load shedding continued across the country on Tuesday as consumers in many areas in the capital, Dhaka, and elsewhere experienced power cuts for several hours in a number of spells.

According to the Bangladesh Power Development Board, the country had to experience about 1400 MW of load shedding as it generated less than 13,000 MW against a demand of over 14,000 MW.

As a result, consumers in and outside the capital had to experience frequent interruptions and load shedding, said an official of the BPDB.

He attributed the fall in power generation to the shortage of gas supply to the power plants, saying that the BPDB had to hold up a generation of about 3400 MW of electricity despite having the capacity.

Dhaka city alone had to experience over 500 MW of load shedding.

Managing director of Dhaka Power Distribution Company Limited, Bikash Dewan, informed that his areas had to go for 400 MW of load shedding to cover the gap between demand and supply.

‘DPDC received 1200 MW of electricity against the demand for 1600 MW,’ he said.
He said that he was trying to design a plan for load shedding so that people could be aware of the interruption to mentally accept the power cut.
‘If we could implement the plan, it will give lesser sufferings to the people,’ he said.

The areas under DPDC in the city include Mohammadpur, Dhanmondi, Lalbagh, Sutrapur, Jatrabari, Malibagh, Moghbazar, Tejgaon, Kakrail, Santinagar, Agargaon, Kalabagan, Kawranbazar, and Tejturibazar area.

The areas under the Dhaka Electric Supply Company Limited also had to experience blackouts on several occasions.
DESCO had to resort to load shedding of 134 MW in its areas, said its managing director, Kawsar Ameer Ali.

He said that the DESCO was allocated 800 MW plus electricity against a demand of over 1000 MW.

The DESCO mainly distributes electricity to the city’s west, north-west, and eastern parts, which include Uttara, Mirpur, Badda, Gulshan, Banani, Baridhara, Niketon, and Badda.

However, electricity consumers outside the capital alleged that they had experienced blackouts for several hours.

‘Even, consumers in many areas had to go without electricity for 5 to 6 hours a day in different spells,’ said an official of the Consumers Association of Bangladesh, which received reports from different areas across the country.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Power, Energy, and Mineral Resources held a high-level meeting with officials from BPDB and Petrobangla to find a way to improve the power and gas supply situation.

An official who attended the meeting said that Petrobangla was asked at the meeting to increase gas production so that more gas-fired power plants could resume operation.

Frequent power cuts continue in Bangladesh

Load shedding continued across the country on Tuesday as consumers in many areas in the capital, Dhaka, and elsewhere experienced power cuts for several hours in a number of spells. According to the Bangladesh Power Development Board, the country...

www.newagebd.net

 

[Major Sam]

Surprise to see too less power generation in Bangladesh.

 

[VCheng]

Surprise to see too less power generation in Bangladesh.

Just another consequence of rising energy costs globally.

 

[UKBengali]

Not good but 1.2GW nuclear will come online next year and another 1.2GW the year after from the Roopur nuclear power plant.

500MW of cheap hydroelectric will come from Nepal via India from 2026. More projects are being considered in Nepal for BD to invest in.

Over the longer term BD must build the 2nd nuclear power station by 2030.

 

[Homo Sapiens]

Not good but 1.2GW nuclear will come online next year and another 1.2GW the year after from the Roopur nuclear power plant.

500MW of cheap hydroelectric will come from Nepal via India from 2026. More projects are being considered in Nepal for BD to invest in.

Over the longer term BD must build the 2nd nuclear power station by 2030.

The latest load shedding is related to inadequate gas supply related to less LNG import due to rising import cost. Nuclear and Hydroelectricity will surely help.

 

[UKBengali]

Bangladesh already has surplus electricity generation capacity. The latest load shedding is related to inadequate gas supply related to less LNG import due rising import cost.

Yes but if Roopur was available now this would not be a problem as fuel costs are a tiny part of the total cost of building, operating and maintaining a nuclear power station.

If Roopur was operational now with its full output of 2.4GW then there would have been no power outage.

Hydro is also very cheap as well as the fuel cost(water) does not rise.

Over the long run BD must have a heavy focus on nuclear from home-based plants and hydroelectric power from plants in Nepal and Bhutan.

 

[Homo Sapiens]

Over the long run BD must have a heavy focus on nuclear from home-based plants and hydroelectric power from plants in Nepal and Bhutan.

Nuclear yes, but I am not fond of becoming dependent on foreign electricity. Theoretically Nepal, Bhutan and North East India has huge untapped hydroelectric capacity. But somehow this potential remain almost wholly untapped till date. This is despite the fact that India could have been the perfect developer and big customer of this hydroelectricity. Instead India is importing hundreds of millions of ton coal from Australia and Indonesia to generate electricity from it's old and polluting thermal power plants, Why India is not developing those Hydropower our policy makers need to take into account.

Bangladesh should not invest any amount of money in Nepal, Bhutan with the hope of importing electricity. India probably will not be very fond of allowing trans-border electric transmission line through Siliguri corridor. If Nepal, Bhutan already develop infrastructure related to hydroelectricity by taking help from China, India or other means and if we can manage a long term secure and stable passage through Siliguri corridor then may be a few thousand megawatt can be considered. But all those talk of 'Bangladesh will invest 1 billion Dollar in Nepal to develop hydroelectricity' should never materialize.

 

[UKBengali]

Nuclear yes, but I am not fond of becoming dependent on foreign electricity. Theoretically Nepal, Bhutan and North East India has huge untapped hydroelectric capacity. But somehow this potential remain almost wholly untapped till date. This is despite the fact that India could have been the perfect developer and big customer of this hydroelectricity. Instead India is importing coal from Australia and Indonesia to generate electricity from it's old and polluting thermal power plants, Why India is not developing those Hydropower our policy makers need to take into account.

Bangladesh should not invest any amount of money in Nepal, Bhutan with the hope of importing electricity. India probably will not be very fond of allowing trans-border electric transmission line through Siliguri corridor. If Nepal, Bhutan already develop infrastructure related to hydroelectricity by taking help from China, India or other means and if we can manage a long term secure and stable passage through Siliguri corridor then may be a few thousand megawatt can be considered. But all those talk of 'Bangladesh will invest 1 billion Dollar in Nepal to develop hydroelectricity' should never materialize.

India does not need Nepal or Bhutan for hydroelectric power as it has enough potential itself.


It already produces 25GW and has a total potential of 150GW at 60% load factor!


This is not talk as BD is already committed to importing 500MW out of 900MW from a hydroelectric power station that India is building in Nepal. Contract already signed


Many more GWs will come from Nepal and potentially Bhutan before the decade is out.


BD has no choice but to import hydroelectric power through India from Nepal/Bhutan as the cost of fossile fuel power is too much and it is the cheapest and one of the cleanest sources there are.

India and BD have a very close strategic interest in developing the economies of W. Bengal, NE States, Nepal and Bhutan and so the idea of India stopping the flow of power is very remote. In any case as long as no more than 20% of BD demand is satisfied by power imports then this is not a national security risk.