Bangladesh has been unable to make timely payments for coal due to a dollar crisis
Published : 28 May 2023, 10:37 PM
Payra thermal power plant, the largest in Bangladesh, has suspended production in one of the two 660 MW units and the other one is going to halt electricity generation on Jun 3 due to a lack of coal.
The Bangladesh-China partnership plant in Patuakhali depends on imported coal, but Bangladesh has not been able to pay for the fuel for quite some time due to a dollar crunch amid global economic headwinds.
The authorities said on Sunday they hope to clear some payments and resume production at the plant by the last week of June.
The second unit of the 1320 MW plant became operational in December 2020, seven months after the inauguration of the first one.
Indonesia has been supplying coal to the plant, which needs 12,000 tonnes of coal daily to generate electricity at full capacity, under a 10-year deal.
The plant with ultra-supercritical technology played a key role in keeping the situation under control by supplying more than 1,000 MW of electricity a day during the intense power crisis in past few months.
As supply started to dry up, production fell last week. The first unit produced 250-380 MW for the last time on Saturday.
MA Khurshedul Alam, managing director of Bangladesh-China Power Company which is running the plant, said: “Both units will stop production by Jun 3. If we can start opening LCs [letters of credit to import coal] tomorrow, the situation will normalise around Jun 22-23.”
He said they could not take steps earlier as the dollar crisis has been dragging on for a long time.
“We’re now holding discussions to receive as much coal as we’ve paid for. We needed to pay $100 million this month, but were able to pay $51 million. Efforts are ongoing to bring coal by paying the rest of the amount.”