Bangladesh has reached a new height in power generation as 12,539 megawatts (MW) electricity was produced on Tuesday, which was the highest power generation in the country’s history, according to the Power Development Board (PDB).
PDB spokesperson Saiful Hasan Chowdhury said it was the highest power generation in the country’s history. There was no power cut in the day of record production.
State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid said “We have the capacity to generate more electricity against the demand of consumers and the government is firmly committed to supply uninterrupted electricity to every household by 2021.”
The PDB authority marked adequate gas supply as the key to producing power with all the oil-run power plants being operative. On May 7 this year, the production was 12,214 MW.
The government has targeted generation of 14,000 MW electricity to ensure uninterrupted power supply during Ramadan, and the subsequent summer.
According to Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) the electricity demand is 12,500MW during Ramadan, and the government has set a target to generate around 14000 MW.
According to Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB), on September 19 last year, the maximum production of electricity was 11,623 MW, on July 7, the country's electricity production crossed the milestone of 11,000 MW for the first time. The record of production 11,059 MW was made on that day.
On June 30, 2016, for the very first time, power generation crossed the 9,000MW mark.
The highest production of power in 2017 was 9,011MW, while the figure stood at 7,485MW in 2016, 5,791MW in 2015, 5,754MW in 2014 and 4,711MW in 2013.
BPDB officials said the government is planning to increase the country's power generation capacity to 24,000MW by 2021, aiming to supply uninterrupted electricity to all the consumers. Bangladesh has a master plan to generate 60,000MW of electricity by 2041. They are also eyeing to bring the entire country under electricity coverage by 2021. Currently 93 percent of the population have access to electricity.
Power division official said government has undertaken 13 mega projects in cooperation with India, Japan, China, Malaysia, South Korea and Singapore to set up coal-based power plants.
Eight mega coal-based power plant projects have been taken up in Pyra, Rampal, Matarbari and Moheshkhali with a total 9,960 MW generation capacity.
It is expected that the first mega project at Payra in Patuakhali of 1300 MW will come into operation next year. About 50 percent work on the power plant has been completed.
The construction of 1,200MW 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.
Besides, Rooppur Nuclear Power plant with two units, with the total capacity of 2,400 MW is under construction at Rooppur of Pabna. The construction work is going on fast. It would produce and be added to the national grid by 2023-2024.
Power division official said 53 power stations with a generation capacity of 13,266 MW will be commissioned from 2020 to 2026.
According to power division, the number of power plants increased to 108 from 27 when the ruling Awami League government came into power in 2009. The power generation capacity has increased more than 4 times within last decade.