Govt plans ‘some load-shedding’ to ease subsidy pressure
Saying BPDB is a loss-making organisation and Petrobangla is also facing financial constraints, the power and energy adviser has urged the public to understand these realities
Some load-shedding will be necessary to prevent a sharp increase in power sector subsidies, but the government will make every effort to keep it within a tolerable limit, said Power, Energy, and Mineral Resources Adviser Muhammad Fouzul Kabir Khan today (27 April).
He made these remarks while speaking to journalists after a meeting convened to form an investigation committee on the recent power outage in the country's southwestern region.
The press briefing was held at the Energy Division, where Power Secretary Farzana Momtaj, Engineer Md Rezaul Karim from the Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB), and other senior officials were also present.
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Fouzul said that BPDB is a loss-making organisation. Petrobangla is also facing financial constraints. He urged the public to understand these realities.
He said that currently, up to 16,500 megawatts of electricity production has been made possible. The extent of load-shedding will depend on demand. Demand rises with temperature increase. Since PDB is financially strained, it will not be possible to increase power production significantly.
The adviser also mentioned that at present, some oil-based power plants are running. If electricity demand rises further, more oil-based plants will be operated to increase production.
He added that Petrobangla used to supply 1,100 to 1,200 million cubic feet of gas per day (mmcfd) of gas for power generation, but due to financial difficulties, it is now supplying only 1,050 mmcfd. As a result, sudden increases in power production will not be possible.
He further said that the government cannot meet the electricity demand proportional to the high usage of air conditioners. Domestic gas production is decreasing, while the floating storage and regasification units (FSRUs) for imported LNG have a fixed capacity — only 115 cargoes can be regasified annually. There is an effort to increase LNG imports by two cargoes per month, but the Energy Division has asked the Power Division for funding.
The government has promised the IMF to reduce subsidies in the power sector under the terms of the $4.7 billion loan agreement. As part of this, the Finance Ministry has recommended phasing out old and less efficient rental and independent power plants and reducing system losses to lower production costs.
Despite several hikes in electricity prices, the government provided Tk33,000 crore in subsidies to the power sector in FY2023-24, part of which came from special bonds. In the current fiscal year, although Tk19,500 crore was initially allocated, the revised budget has increased the total subsidy allocation to Tk62,000 crore.
Under the IMF agreement, the government has pledged to gradually remove all subsidies from the power sector by 2026.
Committee formed to investigate grid failure
At the meeting, the Ministry of Power, Energy, and Mineral Resources formed an eight-member investigation committee to look into the recent power disruption in the southwestern regions, including Khulna, Jessore, Barishal, and Faridpur.
On Saturday, between 5:45 PM and 7:22 PM, a failure in the Gopalganj-Aminbazar grid line caused a massive blackout across Khulna and surrounding areas.
The committee, headed by Buet Pro-Vice-Chancellor Prof Abdul Hasib Chowdhury, will investigate the root cause of the grid failure, determine responsibility, and recommend measures to prevent such incidents in the future. The committee has been instructed to submit its report within seven working days.
The committee members also include officials from different power distribution companies and the Power Division.
Regarding the incident, Power Adviser Muhammad Faozul Kabir Khan said that the disruption occurred due to a fault in the Aminbazar-Gopalganj double line. It may have been caused by two 400kV transmission lines coming too close or touching.
Seven power plants with a combined capacity of 2,277 megawatts shut down due to the incident, including four coal-fired plants. Preliminary assumptions suggest the fault happened either about 60 miles from Aminbazar or 20 miles from Gopalganj.
PGCB 'ready' to transmit Rooppur power
In response to a question, the power adviser stated that the government is concerned about grid stability. Stability will become even more crucial once the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant and other renewable energy plants come online.
He said that, with assistance from the Asian Development Bank (ADB), battery energy storage systems are being introduced. Initially, 30MW of storage will be installed at Ishwardi and 90MW at Bhulta.
When asked about the progress on the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant transmission line, the adviser said that PGCB is ready to transmit power even if one unit of the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant starts supplying electricity.
