Bangladesh on Wednesday touched a new high in electricity generation. The power plants produced 12,893-megawatt (MW) electricity at 9:00pm on the day, which is a new record in the history of the country, according to the Power Development Board (PDB). Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) spokesperson Saiful Hasan Chowdhury said, “There was no power cut on the day of the record production.” However, there were some disruptions in transmission and distribution systems, he said. The earlier highest generation of 12,539 MW was recorded on May 21 this year. The installed capacity of the power plants is now 21,629MW but the full capacity remained unutilized due mainly to gas supply shortage as well as weaknesses in transmission and distribution systems.
State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid said, “We have the capacity to generate more electricity against the demand of consumers and the government is firmly committed to supplying uninterrupted electricity to every household by 2021.” The government has targeted generation of 14,000MW electricity to ensure uninterrupted power supply during Ramadan, and the subsequent summer. According to Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB), on September 19 last year, the maximum production of electricity was 11,623 MW, on July 7, the country's electricity production crossed the milestone of 11,000MW for the first time. The record of production 11,059 MW was made on that day. On 30 June, 2016, for the very first time, power generation crossed the 9,000MW mark. The highest production of power in 2017 was 9,011MW, while the figure stood at 7,485MW in 2016, 5,791MW in 2015, 5,754MW in 2014 and 4,711MW in 2013. BPDB officials said the government is planning to increase the country's power generation capacity to 24,000MW by 2021, aiming to supply uninterrupted electricity to all the consumers. Bangladesh has a master plan to generate 60,000MW of electricity by 2041. They are also eyeing to bring the entire country under electricity coverage by 2021. Currently 93 percent of the population have access to electricity. Power division officials said the government has undertaken 13 mega projects in cooperation with India, Japan, China, Malaysia, South Korea and Singapore to set up coal-based power plants. Eight mega coal-based power plant projects have been taken up in Payra, Rampal, Matarbari and Moheshkhali with a total capacity of 9,960MW. It is expected that the first mega project at Payra in Patuakhali of 1,300MW will come into operation next year. About 50 percent work on the power plant has been completed by now, according to project officials. The construction of 1,200MW coal-fired power plant at Matarbari is expected to end by 2023. On the other hand, work is going on to set up a 1,320MW power plant at Rampal in Bagerhat. Besides, Rooppur Nuclear Power plant with two units, with a total capacity of 2,400MW, is under construction at Rooppur in Pabna. The construction work is going on fast. It is expected to go into operation by 2023-2024. Power division officials said 53 power stations with a cumulative generation capacity of 13,266MW will be commissioned in the period between 2020 and 2026. According to power division, the number of power plants has increased to 108 now from 27 when the ruling Awami League came to power in 2009. The power generation capacity has increased more than 4 times over the last one decade.
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