The electricity demand in the country has fallen to about one-third compared to total power generation capacity.
The power generation capacity of the country is already more than the demand. Now that demand is declining further, many of the power plants remain idle for a long time.
This situation has been created due to winter and the negative impact of the coronavirus in domestic and industrial sector, a Power Division official said.
According to the daily report of Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB), currently the daily power consumption on an average is 7,500MW to 9000MW. However, the capacity of grid-based power generation in the country is now 20,595 MW. And this capacity has been increased to 23,548 MW including captive and renewable energy.
The Power Division official said one of the reasons for the decline in electricity consumption is that many commercial offices have not yet fully opened due to the fear of coronavirus transmission.
He also said that classrooms of educational institutions are closed. Many industries have not yet resumed full production. On top of this, winter has forced millions of air conditioners to remain unused.
In such a situation, the government has shut down almost all the oil-fired power plants in the country. Some diesel and furnace oil-fired based power plants having total capacity around 1200MW were also closed.
Petrobangla has adopted a minimum policy on LNG imports. The country is importing less than 39 crore cubic feet of LNG on an average every day. The two LNG terminals in Maheshkhali have a capacity of more than 100 crore cubic feet per day.
The import of LNG started due to the gas crisis in the country. Expensive LNG (liquefied natural gas) have also come down to one-third of the total capacity.
A PDB official said the power generation cost for oil-based power plants is relatively higher than that of natural gas.
Meanwhile, gas-based power generation is going to increase rather than decrease. Chevron, the country's largest gas producer, has been instructed to increase production from the mine, a Petrobangla official said.
He said that the daily production from the Bibiana gas field has been asked to increase to 1,351 million cubic feet. At present 1,200 million cubic feet are being extracted. On the other hand, even if they do not import LNG, they are being charged at two floating terminals. One of these terminals is owned by Petrobangla, the other by private company Summit. Both terminals have been leased to US Company Accelerate Energy.
