The power plant has been built, but the construction of the transmission line remains. As a result, the center is not running at full capacity. I have to pay rent by sitting down. The incident took place at Payara in Patuakhali, the largest power plant in the country. Construction of two units of Payra coal-fired power plant has been completed. Production capacity of each unit is 60 MW, Mate 1,320 MW. In May last year A unit starts generating electricity commercially. The second unit came into production last December. However, the two units cannot be run at full capacity. Because, there is no line to carry the amount of electricity that will be generated in the two units. Power department officials say work is underway to build a transmission line to connect Pigeon’s power to the national grid.
Pigeon power can be supplied to the national grid once the construction of 400 kilovolt (kV) transmission line from Aminbazar in the capital to Maengla in Bagerhat via Mawa-Gaepalganj is completed. Until then, it has not been possible to run the pigeon power plant at full capacity. State Minister for Power Nasrul Hamid told the line will be completed next year. Work has been disrupted due to an increase in carina infection. As long as we can’t take electricity, we have to pay capacity charge. Nasrul Hamid said the contractor who was given the job of constructing the transmission line was late. Excluding them, a new contractor has been appointed to China Machineries Company (CMC).
21 thousand crore development plan
Pigeons have so far come into production among the big power plants planned by the government worth Tk 21,000 crore. North-West Power to set up Pigeon Power Plant in 2014. Generation Company Limited (NWPGCL) and China Machineries An agreement is signed between the company (CMC). Under the agreement, the two companies jointly established Bangladesh-China Power Company Limited (BCPCL), under which the Pigeon Power Plant is being operated. According to the power department, the work of Payra power plant officially started on October 14, 2016. The construction of the power plant has cost around Tk 21,000 crore. Before the launch of Payra, the country’s largest power plant was the Meghna Power Limited (MPL) at Meghna Ghat in Narayanganj. Its generating capacity is 450 MW. The ongoing Rampal coal-fired power plant will have a generating capacity of 1,320 MW.
The center is being constructed at a joint venture between Bangladesh and India at Rampal in Bagerhat. A 1,200-megawatt power plant is under construction at Matarbari in Maheshkhali upazila of Cox’s Bazar.
It is being built by the government company Coal Power Generation Company
The government subsidizes the construction of power plants in such a way that if you sit in them, you have to pay monthly rent. This is called ‘capacity charge’. The Bangladesh Power Development Board has to pay a subsidy of Tk 100 crore to the Bangladesh-China Power Company every month for not being able to use the full capacity of the pigeon. Belayet Hassan, chairman of the Power Development Board, told that Power Grid Company Limited (PGCB) was paying Tk 20 crore out of Tk 100 crore. Because, they could not build the transmission line at the scheduled time. This is not the only case of renting a power plant. For several years, the country’s power generation capacity has been much higher than the demand. As a result, those centers whose productivity is not utilized have to be subsidized.
The Institute for Energy Economics Financial Analysis (IEEFA), a US-based research institute, said in a report last year that only 43 per cent of MAT power plants in Bangladesh are used, while the remaining 57 per cent are idle. According to the report, the government is subsidizing Tk 9,000 crore a year by setting up lazy centers. As per the statistics of the power department on June 10, there have been 149 power plants in the country through government, private and joint ventures. Of these, 57 are government, 91 are private and 1 is a joint venture. The installed capacity of power generation is just over 22,000 MW (excluding captive and off-grid renewable energy). The actual capacity is 21 thousand megawatts. In contrast, the production is around 13 thousand megawatts.
