Adani unit resumes generation, Rampal shutdown leaves power deficit

The second unit of Adani Power’s Godda plant in Jharkhand has resumed power generation, but a unit at the Rampal Thermal Power Plant in Bagerhat shut down the same day, leaving Bangladesh’s power deficit unresolved.

At 6pm on Sunday, the two Adani units were generating 1,453.41MW combined, while national demand stood at 15,280MW against 14,610MW supplied at substations, resulting in 670MW of load-shedding.

The Adani unit restarted at 5:17am and was connected to the national grid around noon. It had shut down on Sept 10 following a technical fault involving a major leak in its HP heater inlet valve.

After the shutdown, Adani supply fell to around 691MW and remained about 667-739MW lower than normal.

Rampal’s Unit No. 2 also shut down on Sunday, cutting the plant’s output from more than 1,100MW to below 600MW.

Md Jahurul Islam, member (Generation) of the Bangladesh Power Development Board (PDB), said: “Electricity supply from Adani [India] has begun. Rampal's Unit No. 2 has been shut down for maintenance work.”

The Rampal unit would need to cool down before repairs could begin, with two engineers from India expected to arrive, he added.

“It will take about three to four days to restart operations.”

Gas Supply Increased

Gas supply increased slightly, from about 2,320 million cubic feet at 6pm on Friday to 2,360 million cubic feet on Sunday. LNG supply rose from 701 million cubic feet to 755 million cubic feet, but several major coal- and gas-fired plants continued operating below capacity.

A senior PDB official said the Adani shutdown had worsened the power crisis but was not the only cause, with demand fluctuations, gas constraints, and lower output from other major plants also affecting power cuts.