The newly constructed Payra in Patuakhali to Gopalganj 400 kV power transmission line has been successfully commissioned on Tuesday. The main objective of the line is to create necessary facilities to evacuate power from upcoming coal based Payra 1320 MW Power Plant, official said.
State-owned Power Gird Company of Bangladesh (PGCB) has constructed the transmission line and it was launched at 4.52 pm on Tuesday at the edge of the Gopalganj grid substation. PGCB officials said the newly constructed 400KV double circuit line with 163 kilometers has connected Payara with Mokshudpur 400/230KV grid substation in Gopalganj via Borguna, Jhalukhati, Barishal and Madaripur district.
‘The total project cost was taka 1,412 crore, which was provided by Bangladesh Government and PGCB,’ official said. Bangladesh-China Power Company Ltd (BCPCL), a joint venture of Bangladesh's North-West Power Generation Company Ltd (NWPGCL) and China National Machinery Import and Export Corporation (CMC) are implementing the 1320MW power plant in Payra at a cost of about $2 billion. The power plant is being built with financial support from China's Exim Bank.
According to NWPGCL the construction work of the power plant is going on at a faster pace. More than 92 percent work has been completed of the total project. The official said that all civil, structural work and equipment installation has been done for the first unit, and now pre-commissioning activities are going on before final commissioning. The installation work for the second unit is also going on fast.
‘If work goes on without any disruption, the first 660-megawatt (MW) unit will start generating electricity by this month and the second unit with same capacity is expected go into operation by June 2020,’ officials hope. The government has also allocated 998.77 acres of land to the NWPGCL for implementing the project on a turnkey basis by using eco-friendly ultra-super critical technology.
According to the Power System Master Plan, the government plans to generate around 50 per cent of the country's overall electricity from coal. To implement the plan, the government will have to generate around 12,000 megawatts of electricity from coal by 2024, 20,000 MW by 2030, and 30,000 MW by 2041.
But the country now has only three coal-fired power plants with a total generation capacity of only 524 MW. The government has undertaken a number of coal-and LNG-based power plants across the country to generate 24,000 MW electricity by 2021, 40,000 MW by 2030 and 60,000 MW by 2041.
Currently, the government is working on three major power generation hubs at Payra in Patuakhali, Maheshkhali and Matarbari in Cox's Bazaar. The 1,200 MW coal-fired power plant at Matarbari is expected to go into operation by 2023. On the other hand, work is going on to set up a 1320 MW power plant at Rampal in Bagerhat. Meanwhile, the work to build a nuclear power plant at Rooppur in Pabna is underway.
