Adani power plant in India's Godda shut down; may leave Bangladesh with power shortage

The power supply from the Adani coal-fired power plant in India's Godda in Jharkhand has been shut down completely yesterday, which hit power production in Bangladesh.

Secretary of the Power Division Habibur Rahman confirmed the matter to The Business Standard today (29 June).

The power plant supplies around 1,500 megawatts of electricity from its two units to Bangladesh. One of the units has been closed for routine maintenance since before the Eid-ul-Adha holidays.

As the other unit shut down due to mechanical failure yesterday, power generation in the entire plant was halted, with power supply completely cut off to Bangladesh.

The power division secretary said, "There were some difficulties. One unit was completely closed. Another 270 to 300 megawatts of electricity was available partially. Later, that too was temporarily closed."

One unit, however, is expected to be operational tonight, he said, adding that another will be launched on 2 July.

"If both units are running then there will be no problems," he added.

According to sources at the Power Grid Company of Bangladesh (PGCB) and the Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB), due to low demand during the Eid holidays, Adani Power shut down the first unit of the plant for maintenance or renovation work.

But power was being supplied from the second unit. But on 25 June, the second unit faced technical glitches. After that, the power generation declined. 

According to the BPDB data, 370 MW of electricity was received from Adani's Jharkhand power plant on 27 June.

But the second unit shut down completely yesterday morning.

As per the BPDB data, Adani is expected to get 1,496 MW of power from the two units. Due to low power supply from these units, there has been a shortfall of power supply in the country.

A senior BPDB official, however, said it is not possible to confirm when the power supply will resume from the Adani power plant.