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Published : 25 Jun 2023, 07:55 PM
One of the two 660 MW units at Payra thermal power plant, the largest in Bangladesh, has restarted production 20 days after a shortage of coal forced the entire operation to shut down.
Confirming the reopening on Sunday afternoon, AM Khurshedul Alam, managing director of Bangladesh-China Power Company which is running the plant in Patuakhali, said a ship with 41,000 metric tonnes of coal docked at the plant’s port last Friday.
The shipment is enough to run one unit of the plant for seven days, he said.
He also confirmed that 17 other ships, each carrying similar amounts of coal, will dock at the plant’s port soon, which will be enough to continue operation and reopen the second unit.
The ongoing electricity crisis, punctuated by frequent power outages amid sweltering heat, was intensified in Bangladesh after the plant suspended operations.
On May 25, the first unit halted power generation, while the second unit of the 1,320 MW plant also shut down production on Jun 5.
The plant, equipped with ultra-supercritical technology, played a crucial role in controlling the power crisis situation by supplying more than 1,000 MW of electricity a day during the intense power crisis in the past few months.
It requires 12,000 tonnes of coal daily to generate electricity at full capacity.
Bangladesh has been unable to pay for coal for quite some time due to a dollar crunch amid global economic headwinds.
According to a Bangladesh Power Development Board forecast, the peak hour demand for electricity is 14,800 MW and for off-peak hours, it is 13,100 MW.
Power plants in Bangladesh produced 13,906 MW of electricity and 11,858 MW of electricity during peak and off-peak hours, respectively, on Saturday.
