Banshkhali power plant starts feeding national grid on trial

The plant provides 120 MW of electricity on the first day

The SS Power Plant, owned by S Alam Group, located at Gandamara in Chattogram’s Banshkhali, has begun supplying electricity to the national grid during a test run.

Power supply to the national grid started on an experimental basis from one of the two coal-based units of the plant on Wednesday afternoon, said Faizur Rahman, a sub-project director of the plant.

“We provided 120 MW of electricity on the first day, meeting the demand of the Power Division.”

The first unit, with a production capacity of 660 MW, can operate at total capacity depending on the availability of coal, while the commissioning of the second unit is currently ongoing, Faizur said.

According to the company data, SS Power I Limited has finished the physical construction of the 1320 MW coal-fired supercritical thermal power plant.

The largest privately-owned coal-fired power plant will supply 1224 MW of electricity to the national grid once commercial operations begin.

Faizur is confident that the plant will be operating at its maximum capacity in June.

The Bangladesh-China co-owned company has a total investment of around $2.6 billion.

The S Alam Group of Bangladesh holds a majority share of 70 percent, while the Chinese company SEPCO III Electric Power Construction Corporation owns the remaining 30 percent.