Bangladesh expects power from India’s Adani in mid-March

The shortage of power has eased as consumption fell in winter, but the situation may return in summer

Senior Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 3 Jan 2023, 01:50 PM
Updated : 3 Jan 2023, 01:50 PM

Supply to Bangladesh from a power plant being built by Indian conglomerate Adani Group’s subsidiary in Jharkhand is expected to start in mid-March, Nasrul Hamid has said.

The state minister for power, energy and mineral resources made the remarks after visiting the 1,600 MW Godda Power Project on Tuesday, according to a statement from the ministry.

A dedicated transmission line has been set up to supply power to Bangladesh from the plant, Nasrul said. “As much as 750 MW from the first of the two units may start coming in mid-March.”

The shortage of power has eased as daily consumption fell to 8,000-9,400 MW in January in winter from 12,500-13,500 MW in March. The supply squeeze may hit users again as demand will surge in summer, forcing the government to resort to rolling outages. 

“We’re looking for alternative sources of energy as we need more power to meet the demand in summer. We’re working to ensure undisrupted power supply at a fair price,” said Nasrul.

Bangladesh has been importing power from India for supply without disruption since 2013. Now Bangladesh receives 1,000 MW of electricity from Bahrampur in West Bengal via Kushtia’s Bherama and 160 MW from Suryamoni in Tripura via Cumilla daily.

Adani Power and Bangladesh Power Development Board signed a memorandum of understanding in 2015. This followed a joint declaration issued during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Dhaka that year. As per the MoU, the entire production from the project will be supplied to Bangladesh.

Bangladesh India Friendship Power Company, a 50:50 joint venture between India’s top power utility NTPC and Bangladesh Power Development Board, is implementing the Maitree Super Thermal Power Project in Bagerhat’s Rampal

The two prime ministers unveiled one of the two units of the plant– each with a capacity of 660 MW – virtually during Sheikh Hasina’s visit to India last year.

The Rampal and Godda projects will add nearly 3,000 MW of electricity to the national grid of Bangladesh.

For power from the Godda plant, the Power Grid Company of Bangladesh is setting up transmission lines and two substations in Chapainawabganj and Bogura.