The initial coal consignment to run the country’s first mega 1320-megawatt coal-fired power plant at Payra in Patuakhali is likely to reach in mid-September from Indonesia.
An official concerned said the construction work of the power plant is going on in full swing and around 85 percent of the work has already been completed. If the works go on without any disruption, the first 660-MW unit will start generation by December, and the second unit with same capacity, will go into operation by June 2020.
Project Director Shah Abdul Maula told Bangladesh Post he is hopeful that the first consignment of the coal will reach at Payra by middle of the next month (September), which will be used to run the power plant.
“Our overall preparation is very good. If Power Grid Company of Bangladesh (PGCB) provides us with 400KV electric transmission line by August, we hope to start supplying electricity to the national grid by the end of this year,” he added.
The official said that all civil and structural work and equipment installation has been done for the first unit, and now pre-commissioning activities are going on before final commissioning. The installation work for the second unit is also going on fast.
Bangladesh-China Power Company Ltd (BCPCL), a joint venture of Chinese Power Company CMC and Bangladesh’s North-West Power Generation Company Ltd (NWPGCL), is implementing the project at a cost of about $2 billion. The power plant is being built with the financial support from China’s Exim Bank.
The government has also allocated 998.77 acres of land to the NWPGCL for implementing the project on a turnkey basis by using eco-friendly ultra-super critical technology.
The power plant would require around 12,000 tonnes of coal daily to generate electricity. BCPCL would import around 4.0 million tonnes of coal from Indonesia annually to run the power plant.
The plant will use sub-bituminous coal, whose calorific value is 4700-5500 Kcal. This type of coal is chiefly abundant in Indonesia and Australia.
BCPCL signed a 10-year agreement for coal import with Indonesian PT Bayan Resources on Jun 17 of this year. Bangladesh was focusing on importing coal from Indonesia and trying to strengthening ties with the country due to the low import costs.
Sources said that initially big cargo ships will not be used to bring in coal due to the plant’s limited capacity. Initially 60,000-tonne ships half filled with coal will be brought in, whereas within a year big ships will be docked at Andaman and the coal will be brought in small ships.
Bangladesh had not imported large quantities of coal earlier as its major requirement was being met by the country's lone-operational Barapukuria coal mine. The mine has an annual capacity to extract around 1.0 million tonnes of coal. The Payra coal-fired power plant would be the first to be run on imported coal.
According to the Power System Master Plan, the government plans to generate around 50 per cent of the country's overall electricity from coal. To implement the plan, the government will have to generate around 12,000 megawatts of electricity from coal by 2024, 20,000 MW by 2030, and 30,000 MW by 2041. But the country now has only three coal-fired power plants with a total generation capacity of only 524 MW.
The government has undertaken a number of coal and LNG based power plants across the country to generate 24,000 MW electricity by 2021, 40,000 MW by 2030 and 60,000 MW by 2041.
Currently, the government is working on three major power generation hubs at Payra in Patuakhali, Maheshkhali and Matarbari in Cox’s Bazar.
The construction of 1,200 MW coal-fired power plant at Matarbari is expected to go into operation by 2023. On the other hand, work is going on to set up a 1320 MW power plant at Rampal in Bagerhat. Meanwhile, work to build a nuclear power plant at Rooppur in Pabna is underway.