Barapukuria power plant goes offline after two units develop major faults

Both running units at the Barapukuria Thermal Power Plant in Dinajpur have shut down within two days after developing mechanical faults, cutting off the plant's entire electricity supply to the national grid.

Identifying the faults, carrying out repairs and restoring generation would take considerable time, Chief Engineer Abu Bakkar Siddique said on Tuesday.

Unit 1, with a capacity of 125MW, went offline on Monday after a major cable fault, while the 275MW Unit 3 shut down early Tuesday after developing a major turbine fault, according to him.

"It will take time to resume power generation. The turbine alone will take 15 to 20 days to cool down. Work can begin once it has cooled," Siddique said, adding that efforts would be made to bring Unit 1 back onlione first.

The coal-fired plant, located in Dinajpur's Parbatipur Upazila, has a total generation capacity of 525MW.

Units 1 and 2 each have a capacity of 125MW, while Unit 3 has a capacity of 275MW. Unit 2 has been completely out of operation since 2020.

Before the latest shutdowns, Unit 1 was supplying 55-60MW and Unit 3 was supplying 165-170MW to the national grid.

With the plant now completely offline, the resulting shortfall of around 230MW has affected the national grid and increased load-shedding.