Rural Power Company Limited (RPCL) plans to create a power hub to generate around 2100 megawatts of electricity for Mymensingh regional uplift.
Once built, people in the power hub will enjoy more reliable electricity that will help to enhance socio-economic development in rural areas, said Md Salim Bhuiyan, Executive Director (Engineering) of RPCL.
“Bangladesh is now surplus in electricity generation. The government is now focusing on regional power generation to meet the future demand. However, the regional power generation capacity of Mymensingh is very poor. We want to overcome this limitation, he said in an interview with Bangladesh Post on Tuesday.
Salim Bhuiyan said the electricity demand of the Mymensingh zone including Mymensingh, Netrokona, Kishoreganj, Tangail, Jamalpur and Sherpur district is more than 600MW, and is on the rise. However, there are six power plants. Of these, RPCL has a power plant with the capacity of 210MW in Mymensingh and it is the largest plant in the area. The other IPP (Independent Power Producer)-based power plants are Jamalpur 95MW (Powerpac), Tangail 22 MW (Doreen), Jamalpur 115 MW (United) and Mymensingh 200 MW (United).
‘There is around 150-200MW of electricity in shortage in Mymensingh region, which is being supplied from other power plants to the region. However, the two power transmission lines (Ashuganj-Mymensingh and Tangail-Mymensingh) are overloaded.
Although the electricity demand is increasing day by day, sometimes the voltage is dropping. So it is essential to build more power plants in Mymensingh,’ he continued.
Salim Bhuiyan further said ‘We are going to set up a 420MW dual fuel combined cycle power plant at Shambhuganj of Mymensingh district. To this end, land development work has already been completed. We expect that the financial closing of the project will be completed within next May. Then the main construction work of the plant will be started. Hopefully, the power plant will start its commercial operation by 2023.’
“We have already acquired 38 acres of land. Out of this, 16.5 acres will be needed for the power plant, and there is an option to set up another 420MW power plant in the rest of the land. The land development work of the upcoming power plant has already been done,” he added.
‘On the other hand, we will be repowering existing power plants, which may increase to 600MW. Besides, B-R Powergen Ltd will build a 450MW power plant in Mymensingh, which also has got primary approval. So we hope around 2100MW of electricity will be generated in Mymensingh by 2031. Once the power hub is completed, voltage drop will be removed and people will also get reliable and uninterrupted electricity,’ the executive director said.
In addition, state-owned Rural Power Company Limited (RPCL) was registered as a Public Limited Company at the Registrar of Joint Stock Companies & Firms on 31 December 1994 to alleviate power crisis and to meet the increasing power demand of the country. The company was promoted to Rural Electrification Board (REB) and 5 (five) Palli Biddyut Samities (PBSs). The company is presently generating 392 MW of electricity from its 4 Power Plants & 150MW from its BPDB-RPCL Powergen, a joint venture company of BPDB & RPCL.
Present Shareholders of the company are BREB & 13 (thirteen) PBSs. Over the years RPCL has gained vast experience in project implementation, operation and maintenance of power plants.
