Barapukuria power plant shuts down after final unit fails

The closure of the last unit is due to a boiler burst triggered by stones passing with coal, authorities say

Power generation at the Barapukuria Thermal Power Plant in Dinajpur has come to a complete standstill after its final operational unit was forced offline due to a mechanical failure.

The 125MW Unit-1 was shut down at 10:10pm on Wednesday after a boiler pipe burst, according to Mohammad Abu Bakar Siddique, the plant's chief engineer.

The malfunction was reportedly triggered by debris -- specifically stones -- mixed with the coal supply, which damaged the boiler system, according to authorities.

"Repair work is currently under way," Abu Bakar said on Thursday afternoon.

"It may take four to five days to fix the pipe and resume production."

The total shutdown of the facility follows a series of long-term outages across its three units, with Unit-2 (125MW) remaining inoperative since November 2020, Unit-3 (275MW) offline since November 2025.

With the plant’s total capacity of 525MW now completely unavailable, the national grid is facing a significant supply deficit.

This has led to intensified power outages across several districts in the northern region of Bangladesh.