Over 10,000MW power in 29 projects in the pipeline
City Desk :
Some 29 more power generation projects, having a combined capacity of 10,881 MW are now under construction, even as the country struggles to manage the costs of overcapacity to the tune of 40 percent in the power sector.
The recently published “Annual Report 2022-23” of the Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB)contains information on the under-construction 29 power generation projects, reports UNB.
It said, “Diversified fuel-based power generation expansion plans are adopted to meet the ever growing electricity demand in Bangladesh. As a part of these plans, 29 power generation projects of capacity 10,881 MW are now under construction, out of which, BPDB is directly implementing 5 projects of capacity 730 MW and 17 projects of capacity 4,230 MW through the IPP sector.”
The annual report further said, “The plan envisages around 20,416 MW new generation addition from July 2023 to December 2027, out of which 728 MW capacity has already been added up to September 2023.”
Many experts in the power and energy sector believe that keeping a 40 percent surplus, adding another 10,881 MW to the national grid in the next three years will further increase the burden of capacity payments, which are written into contracts with independent power producers, as the private sector players owning power plants are referred to.
Of the total 29 projects, 5 are in the public sector while17 are in the private sector as independent power producer (IPP) projects, the annual report said. The ownership structure of the remaining 7 is not clear, with some hybrid combination possible.
According to available data, the country’s overall power generation, combining grid capacity and off-grid (mainly captive) power, increased by about 5000MW in 2023 to reach a new benchmark of 30,700MW, although with demand failing to keep up, this is expected to lead to higher capacity payments for the government.
This is disclosed in available data from the state-owned Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB), Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) and Sustainable and Renewable Energy Development Authority (Sreda).
The BPDB data shows that of the 5000MW new power generation, some 3,343MW was added to the national grid by the import electricity from India and production from newly set up local power plants while about 1400MW came from off-grid captive and off-grid solar power.
It also shows that the country’s installed grid-connected power generation capacity has reached to 25,951 MW on December 30 in 2023 from 22,608 MW in 2022 showing a capacity enhancement of 3343 MW.
Beyond the national grid, as per BERC data, the captive power generation has increased by 1379MW to reach 4760 MW in 2023 from 3,381MW in 2022.
