Fall in power generation behind increasing load-shedding

Staff Reporter :
Load shedding has increased as the country fails to generate adequate power, sources said.

Such a situation has triggered load shedding mainly outside the capital amid the sweltering heat in the early days of the hot summer.

People in rural areas are experiencing untold suffering as the load-shedding situation is worse in most districts than in urban territories.

Meanwhile, the authorities concerned have been concentrating more on keeping supply stable in the large cities, including the capital, to avoid public anger.

The high temperature that has soars up to 38.5 degrees Celsius over the last few days is irritating the plight of the countrymen.

Amid the load shedding, the Bangladesh Meteorological Department (BMD) has issued a heat alert for four divisions, including the capital city.

The existing heat wave over Rajshahi, Dhaka, Khulna, and Barishal divisions may continue and spread for the next 72 hours, starting on Wednesday, BMD said in a bulletin.

An official of the Power Grid Company of Bangladesh said the power supply situation turned bad mainly with the beginning of the summer in the last week of March.

The country first experienced a substantial amount of load shedding after a long winter on March 25, when the authorities concerned had to resort to about 200 MW of load shedding.

This data showed that the amount of load shedding first crossed the benchmark of 850 MW on April 1 at 2 a.m.

“The country’s power supply situation keeps worsening from the very first day of April, which is deemed to be the start of the summer,” an official at the Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) told journalists on Thursday.

He also said that the country is now experiencing about 1200–1650 MW of load shedding every day.

The data also showed that in recent days, the highest load shedding of 1678 MW was recorded on April 2 at 5 p.m. when the country supplied 11,976 MW against the demand of 13,700 MW.

Last year, the highest generation was recorded to be 15,104.00 MW on July 30, against the demand of more than 17,000 MW.

As a result, the country was witnessing a shortfall of 3000–4000 MW in power supply, although the power generation’s installed capacity crossed 25,000 MW.

But due to limitations in adequate gas supply, the country always had to keep generation units of 2500–3000 MW capacity inactive, another official said, preferring anonymity.

Power Division officials predict that this summer the country’s demand may cross 18,000 MW and the load-shedding situation may prevail the same as last year if the gas supply is not increased.

Meanwhile, the Petrobangla officials informed us that the supply of imported LNG could not be raised as the Summit Group’s LNG terminal failed to resume its production.

“It may take 3–4 days more to get the gas supply from Summit’s LNG terminal,” said Engr. Md. Kamruzzaman Khan, Director (Operation and Mining) of Petrobangla.

He also informed us that if Summit’s LNG terminal resumes operation, it will add 500 million cubic feet per day (MMCFD) of gas to the national grid.