Dhaka Bureau: Rampal coal-based thermal power plant is not able to start power generation with full vigor despite being connected to the grid and starting experimental production. Due to complications and delays in opening letters of credit (LC) due to the dollar shortage, the required quantity of coal for the center cannot be importedperimental production. Due to complications and delays in opening letters of credit (LC) due to the dollar shortage, the required quantity of coal for the center cannot be imported. Although coal has been imported in the short term, the Bangladesh-India Partnership Power Company (BIFPCL), the plant’s managing company, has yet to complete the signing of the long-term import contract. As a result, commercial production cannot be started in the government’s fast-track power plant even after grid connection (synchronization) and 72-hour trial production at full capacity.
BIFPCL is implementing the construction project of a 1,320 MW coal-based power plant 14 km away from the northwesterly border of the Bangladesh part of the Sundarbans. The plant under construction in a joint venture between Bangladesh and India has a production capacity of 660 MW per unit. Maitri Super Thermal Power Plant is jointly owned by the Power Development Board of Bangladesh (PDB) and the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) of India. The center is run by BIFPCL, which has an equal 50 percent stake. Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) is working as its construction contractor. India’s Exim Bank has given a loan of 12 thousand 800 crores for the implementation of the project, which is worth 16 thousand crores of rupees. 82.66 percent of the project budget, i.e., 13 thousand 226 crores, has already been spent.
According to BIFPCL sources, the first unit (660 MW) of the Rampal power plant was connected to the national grid on August 15. The Bangladesh-India joint venture facility supplied 91.7 megawatts of electricity to the grid on that day. However, electricity production could not be maintained for a long time. On October 24, production was halted to avoid damage caused by Cyclone Sitrang. After about a month, trial production resumed on November 24. The National Load Dispatch Center (NLDC) approved the reliability run test on December 11. On December 17, it first produced electricity at full capacity, i.e., 660 MW. The condition was to run the plant continuously at full load for 72 hours to verify whether it could produce at full capacity or not. The plant also proved its technical capability by generating electricity for 90 hours at full capacity from 12:00 PM on December 19 to 4:00 PM on December 23.
The Rampal power plant requires 5,000 tons of high-quality calorific coal, which has to be imported from Indonesia, Australia, or South Africa. Each unit requires 4500 metric tons of coal per day to operate at full capacity. That is, if the two units are fully operational, 9000 tons of coal will be required per day. But the production of the power plant stopped again on January 14 around 9 a.m. due to a disruption of coal imports due to LC complications. The plant has a coal storage capacity of three months. There was no coal stock at the plant before the shutdown of production, even though there was a mandate to keep one month’s worth of coal stock as per the rules. Then on February 9, a ship carrying 30,000 metric tons of coal ran into the jetty of the power plant. Production resumed at the center last Wednesday night. However, if the necessary coal import is not continued, the concerned people have expressed fear that the production may stop again.
Once the pilot production phase is complete at a power plant, commercial production begins. A commercial operation date (COD) is set by the Bangladesh Power Development Board (PDB), the wholesale buyer of electricity. But COD or commercial production has not started yet. According to a top PDB official, this situation has arisen as a result of the uncertainty caused by the dollar and energy crises.
The unit has generated 49.1 million units of electricity since last Thursday, after grid connection and trial production started. The center was open from December 9 to 29. Prior to COD, no supercritical technology center in Bangladesh had been operational for such an extended period of time.
Subhas Chandra Pandey, Project Director of Rampal Centre, said, “LC could not be opened due to a dollar shortage, due to which the power plant had to be closed due to a lack of coal.” Now that the supply of coal is somewhat normal, the plant has been restarted. We hope to be able to start power generation from the second unit within the stipulated time if there are no LC complications. It is scheduled to be commissioned in September. He said that with the coal in the pipeline now, it is possible to run one unit of the center till next April. But for this LC, complexity has to be removed.
About the price of electricity produced in the center, he said, Subhas Chandra Pandey, Project Director of Rampal Power Plant, said that due to the increase in the price of coal in the international market, the current cost of power generation is Rs 13–14 per unit. If the price of coal comes down in the world market, the cost of production will also come down.
Engineer Syed Akram Ullah, Managing Director of BIFPCL, said that the tender evaluation for the long-term supply of coal has been completed. This will be done as soon as possible after the rest of the formalities are over. And another cargo of coal will arrive at the jetty in the next two to three days. If the cargo is delivered as planned, then no problem will arise.
