Power generation faces big fall after recent recovery

10 May 2010, 18:00 PM

Unb, Dhaka

After a little bit of improvement in recent days, the country experienced a big fall in power production as a number of power plants were forced to shut down over the last three days due to technical faults. Power generation came down to below 3,750megawatts yesterday from an average production level of 4,400-4,500MW three days earlier. Official sources said a little improvement in the power supply situation had appeared in the first week of May when bulk electricity supply was being withdrawn from irrigation sites and diverted to the urban areas. The power generation also reached 4,500MW after diverting of gas supply from fertiliser factories that were shut down earlier. But two large generation units--450MW Meghnaghat plant and 210MW Ghorasal Unit-6 tripped this week after technical glitches. This sudden shutdown of the two major plants came as a big blow for the Power Development Board (PDB) which has led to a major drop in the overall power production, triggering a rise in load shedding across the country. Apart from this, some other generation units at different power stations were put on repair, maintenance or rehabilitation programmes following technical problems. The nagging gas shortage also forced some plants to reduce production. These also played a big role in aggravating the power supply situation in and outside the capital. The plants shut down recently on different grounds also include Haripur IPP, one unit at Ashuganj combined cycle plant, Haripur Unit-3 of SBU plant and 110MW Khulna steam turbine. Official sources said the authorities concerned have been trying hard to manage more than 1,500MW load shedding for the last couple of days. The peak hour generation forecast was 3,748MW yesterday evening against a demand of 5,500-6,000MW although state-owned PDB says the demand is around 5,000MW. Many areas in the capital city experienced load-shedding every alternate hour throughout the day.