The government has taken an initiative to shut down inefficient power plants in phases within 2022, which will help to reduce power generation cost, power division officials said.
According to them, not only shut down inefficient power plant, the government is also trying to increase uses of renewable energy. Though its price is high right now, however it will decrease in future. The world is now giving emphasis on renewable energy, because, the amount of fossil fuel is decreasing day by day.
The country’s power generation capacity has increased by 4.5 times in last decade, but ironically, government subsidy in power rose by 9 times during this period. The subsidy is increasing every year.
According to power division, currently per unit cost of furnace oil run power is around Tk 17 whereas for diesel it’s Tk. 26. On the other hand, LNG based power plant’s generation cost is TK 13, for imported coal based is TK 8.1, domestic coal is TK 6, gas is TK 2.57, hydro is TK 1 and for solar power plant’s generation cost per unit is around TK 12.
According to Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB), the country’s power generation capacity is 18,944MW right now. Of these, 444MW is being generated from coal, 9,781MW from gas, 5113MW from furnace oil, 2181MW from diesel, 230MW from hydro, 35MW from solar and 1160MW power is being added as imported to national grid. However, currently the average power demand is around 9,000MW.
BPDB has sent a letter to the BERC, where BPDB claimed that they would face a deficit of taka 8,561 crore due to electricity sale at a cheaper rate in 2020.
State minister for power, energy and mineral resources Nasrul Hamid, said, “The government wants to ensure uninterrupted electricity for all at affordable price. Now we have sufficient electricity. So our target is to shut down inefficient and oil based small power plants in phases. It may take at least 3 years.’
‘The country’s first mega power plant with capacity of 1320MW in Payra will start its generation this year. So, the smaller ones can be shut down. Some other mega power plants will go into operation within 2022-2023. Then the power generation cost will further decrease,’ he said.
During the last ten years, no coal-fired power plant was in operation.To increase production in the last nine years, there was more stress on using liquid fuel.
Many of the power plants are not run though the capacity charge has to be paid. Specialists feel that in such a situation, the country has to come out of oil-based power plants.
Specialists say that due to neglect in bringing large and viable plants into operation, the government is having difficulty coming out of oil-based plants.
Energy expert professor Dr Shamsul Alam said, “We have always wanted to track irrational expenditures in the power sector and have given a plan as to how production cost can be lowered.”
On the other hand, the government is discouraging captive power plants by increasing gas price and diverting to national power plants as the country is now capable of generating sufficient electricity.
A captive power plant, also called auto producer or embedded generation, is an electricity generation facility used and managed by an industrial or commercial energy user for their own energy consumption. Captive power plants can operate off-grid or they can be connected to the electric grid to exchange excess generation.
Captive power plants are generally used by power-intensive industries where continuity and quality of energy supply are crucial, such as aluminum smelters, steel plants, chemical plants and others. Around 3000 MW electricity is being generated by captive power plants.
The government is supplying gas at low cost to the captive power plant industry, but efficiency is 40 percent lower than that in the national power plants.
In this Context, State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid has said ‘the captive power plant efficiency is only 15 percent, whereas national power plant efficiency is 55 percent. That’s why we are discouraging industrialists to use gas in captive power by increasing gas price.’
The official said the government began to allow captive power generation in 1990 due to an unreliable power supply. However, the situation has changed. The country’s power generation capacity has increased more than four times. So, government is planning to gradually reduce the gas supplied to captive power plants.