Banshkhali Coal Power Plant starts supplying to national grid on trial basis
The first unit of the Banshkhali Coal Power Plant started supplying electricity to the national grid from Wednesday noon as part of its synchronisation process.
The unit started the supply with 1 MW around 2pm and increased it to 100 MW within one and half hours, said officials of the project.
"The plant has started its synchronisation test and as the grid operator we are facilitating them," said Md Yeakub Elahi Chowdhury, managing director (Addl. Charge) of the Power Grid Company of Bangladesh (PGCB).
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"PGCB will take a maximum of 200 MW electricity during peak hours at night. However, the SS Power Plant is able to supply 500 MW of electricity to the national grid from unit 1," said Md Faizur Rahman, deputy project director of the Banshkhali Coal Power Plant, also known as SS Power Plant.
The plant, owned by Bangladeshi Conglomerate S Alam Group and Chines SEPCO-III Electric Power Construction Corporation along with HTG Development Group, will be able to generate 1,224 MW once its two units are completed.
About $2.6 billion has been spent to build this power plant on 606 acres of land in the Gandamara union of Banshkhali since 2015.
Originally, the much debated project after the Rampal 1320 MW Coal Power plant was scheduled to be completed by 16 November 2019 which was rescheduled to this month after several extensions.
The largest power project implemented by a private entrepreneur will generate electricity by imported coal and Bangladesh Power Development Board will buy electricity from this plant for a period of 25 years.
At present, the country has two large coal power plants—Payra 1320 MW Thermal Power Plant in Patuakhali and Maitree 1320 MW Super Thermal Power Project in Bagerhat, which are run on imported coal.
In the recent economic crisis, these projects have become a matter of concern for reliable power as these projects are haunted by fuel shortage resulting from inability to pay import bills.
Within just five months, Maitree 1320 MW Super Thermal Power Project suspended its operation over coal shortages because it could not import due to the dollar crisis.
Payra 1320 MW Thermal Power Plant is also in a fear of shut down as it owes around $200 million to its coal suppliers.
