Electricity crisis: This summer will be the hardest hit

The upcoming summer appears to be unbearable, even more than the last one, amidst fears of the load shedding climbing up to 3,000 MW. Even the capital Dhaka and readymade garment industry hubs such as Narayanganj and Gazipur witnessed six hours of power cuts last summer. On days authorities shed less than 1,500 MW loads amidst rolling power cuts slapped for tackling an imminent dollar crisis in mid-July. Gas accounts for half of the electricity produced and its local supply will not increase from its current rate in the upcoming summer.
The government plans to buy 12 LNG consignments from the spot market. The import plan is nowhere near meeting the demand for energy that the Hydrocarbon Unit estimated to be 4,000mmcfd in its most conservative estimate. The actual demand for energy could exceed 5,500mmcfd and 7,400mmcfd in different case scenarios. The acute dearth of energy supply could have serious consequences for rice production in the upcoming summer season. The production of fertilizers, mainly urea fertilizer, which is crucial for the country’s crop production, is also being seriously impacted by the lack of gas supply.
Industries have been complaining about an acute gas crisis halving their production for months now and are ready to pay more in energy bills as long as they get uninterrupted supply – which is highly unlikely. The US-based Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis said in a report on February 16 that Bangladesh would have to continue shedding load until mid-2025 and reduce commercial activities due to the global energy crisis.
The increased coal-cost burden led to the closure of the Rampal power plant for about a month just a month after the plant came into operation. The 660MW plant is currently running but at half capacity because of the coal crisis, still with a reserve of a few days of coal. Rampal produced 400MW in its peak hours of production on Tuesday.
Electricity production at the 1,600MW Godda power plant, operated by the controversial corporate giant Adani Group, has become uncertain after Adani demanded abnormally high coal prices. An uncertain but hard time is waiting to embrace us, though the government wasted millions of money and drummed up so-called development by sacrificing democracy. Now it is proven that without democracy, development is not possible.