Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with the Indian energy giant Reliance group on Sunday to purchase power from the proposed 718MW gas-based combined cycle power plant. A total of four contracts was inked with Reliance Bangladesh LNG and Power Limited, a special purpose vehicle (SPV) company of the Reliance Group at Bidyut Bhaban in the capital.
Reliance power will build the power plant within 36 months at Meghnaghat of Narayanganj.
Under the agreements, BPDB will purchase electricity from the project for a 22-year period at a levelised tariff rate of $7.3123 per kilowatt hour (equivalent to Tk 5.85 each unit) with 82 percent plant factor and 12 percent discount factor. Official said Reliance Group will use imported re-gasified liquefied natural gas (R-LNG) for its proposed plant which will be supplied by state-owned Petrobangla at a rate of $7.2625 per mmbtu. In the contract, the US dollar rate was calculated to be Tk 80.
The government will have to spend a total of Tk 80,945 crore (about $8 billion) over the 22-year period for buying electricity from the plant. Sheikh Faezul Amin, Joint Secretary of Power Division, BPDB Secretary Saiful Islam Azad, PGCB (Power Grid Company of Bangladesh) company Secretary Mohammad Jahangir Azad, TGTDCL (Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company Limited) Secretary Mahmudur Rab and Reliance Bangladesh Power Limited Sameer Kumer Gupta signed the deal from their respective sides.
Among others Prime Minister’s Energy Advisor Dr. Tawfiq-E-Elahi Chowdhury, Indian High Commissioner Riva Ganguly Das, Senior Secretary of Power Division Dr. Ahmed Kaikaus, BPDB Chairmen Engineer Khalid Mahmod were also spoke there. Other officials concerned were present at the contract signing ceremony.
The officials said it has been more than four years since Indian Reliance Group signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for making an investment worth $3 billion in the power and energy sector of Bangladesh. But over the period, the Indian conglomerate had not been able to roll out the investment as it could not sign any final deal with the government due to disputes on different issues with different government agencies.
Power Division officials said the Reliance Power signed the MoU during Indian Prime Minister Norendra Modi's Dhaka visit in early June 2015, announcing its plan to set up a 3000MW gas-fired power plant and a 500 mmcfd LNG terminal in Bangladesh. It was said that Relinace will install a FSRU near Moheshkhali, the state-owned Gas Transmission Company Ltd (GTCL) will install a gas pipeline from Moheshkhali to Bakhrabad and supply into the national grid as the Meghnaghat area is an industrial hub where gas crisis is a regular phenomenon.
Indian power giant Reliance Power Ltd has proposed to install another 1500 megawatts (MW) LNG-based power plant in Chattogram. The company has sent their proposal to the Power Division. An official of the Power Division said they are reviewing the proposal from the Reliance Group. The Reliance Power Ltd has around 6000MW of power generation capacity in operation and 10,000 MW under various stages of development.
