Adani's 2nd unit gets nod for commercial power supply to Bangladesh
The second unit of the Adani Godda 1,600MW Thermal Power Plant in India has received approval from the Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) for commercial power supply to the country, according to BPDB officials and sources at Adani's Dhaka office.
Adani Power issued a statement to the National Stock Exchange of India Limited, announcing the successful completion of Reliability Run Tests and the initiation of commercial operations for the second unit at 12am on Sunday.
With a capacity of 1,600MW, Bangladesh now has the flexibility to import electricity according to its requirements. The first unit, with a capacity of 748MW, commenced commercial operation on 6 April.
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However, on Sunday, the plant's supply to Bangladesh was only 760MW, according to Power Grid Company of Bangladesh (PGCB) data.
Earlier on 9 March, the first unit was synchronised with the transmission line of the PGCB.
The Adani Group faced controversy when it requested a power supply order from Bangladesh, which BPDB officials found to be unusually high compared to the cost of coal with the same heating value used in the Payra 1,320MW Thermal Power Plant built in Patuakhali.
In a statement issued on 2 April this year, Adani Bangladesh officials refuted the claims, stating that the cost of their power plant's electricity would not be higher than that of other coal plants in Bangladesh, including Payra, Rampal, and Matarbari thermal power plants.
The BPDB is contractually obligated to purchase at least 34% of the power generated by Adani's plant throughout the 25-year contract period. If the PDB purchases less than this amount, they will be required to pay Adani the entire cost of the coal used to produce 34% of the electricity generated by the plant. This includes the price of the coal as well as any costs associated with transportation and port charges.
In contrast, there are no similar conditions in place for the five coal-based ultra-supercritical technology power plants in Bangladesh. The BPDB only pays for the amount of coal used to generate the electricity that they actually purchase from these plants. This is the case for both the Payra and Rampal plants.
Adani Power will charge a capacity payment of 5.0969 cents (Tk5.4027) per unit of electricity generated. Annually, Adani will charge Tk6,228 crore solely for the rental of the plant.
