An overall 81 percent work on the country's first mega 1320-MW coal-fired power plant at Payra in Patuakhali has been completed. The coal to run the power plant will be imported from Indonesia at end of August, a top official said. If work goes on without any disruption, the first 660-megawatt (MW) unit will start generation by December, and the second unit with same capacity, will go into operation by June 2020.
Project Director, Shah Abdul Maula, told Bangladesh Post, construction work of the power plant is going on fast. Up to June, 81 percent work has been done.
‘We signed coal purchase agreement with the supplier last month. We hope the coal will be imported for the power plant by the end of August. Overall preparation is very good. If Power Grid Company of Bangladesh (PGCB) provides us with 400KV electric transmission line by August, we hope to start supplying electricity to the national grid by November this year,' he added.
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.
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 project at a cost of about $2 billion. The power plant is being built with financial support from China's Exim Bank.
According to NWPGCL, all major equipment for the second unit have reached the project site and the superstructure work is going on. The construction work for coal jetty, coal unloader, coal conveyor gallery, steel structure and civil construction work has already been done. Besides, the construction work of power block area, balance of plant (BOP) and water intake has been completed.
The power plant would require around 12,000 tonnes of coal daily to generate electricity. BCPCL would import around 4.0 million tonnes of coal from Indonesia annually to run the power plant.
Bangladesh-China Power Company signed a deal with an Indonesian firm at a hotel in Dhaka on June, 17 to import the coal from the Southeast Asian country for the power plant. Earlier coal transportation agreement (CTA) was signed on June, 07.
The plant will use sub-bituminous coal, whose calorific value is 4700-5500 Kcal. This type of coal is chiefly abundant in Indonesia and Australia.
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 Bazar.
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, work to build a nuclear power plant at Rooppur in Pabna is underway.