The 660-megawatt (MW) second and final unit of the country's largest coal-fired power plant at Payra in Patuakhali has initiated commercial operation from early this month with lower output due to demand scarcity.
The unit achieved commercial operation date (COD) after around one year of the initial commissioning schedule.
"We have started the commercial run of the 660-MW capacity second unit of the Payra power plant on December 8," A M Khurshedul Alam, managing director of the Bangladesh-China Power Company Limited (BCPCL), told the FE on Tuesday.
But the plant is being operated at a much lower capacity due to an overall fall in demand of electricity during the ongoing winter season, he added.
The unit had earlier initiated test run in August, and was synchronized with the national power grid. The unit generated around 200 MW of electricity on the very first day of its test run.
With the operation of the Payra 1,320-MW coal-fired power plant, the country's overall electricity generation capacity from coal-fired power plants stands at around 1,844 MW. It is around 9.0 per cent of the total output of around 20,595 MW.
The first 660-MW unit of the power plant initiated its commercial operation in May 2020, around eleven months after the initial schedule to commence operation in June 2019.
The Payra coal-fired power plant is the country's first power plant to run on imported coal. The BCPCL is now importing coal from Indonesia. It has planned to import coal from Australia also.
The plant has commitment to use bituminous and sub-bituminous coal, and its expected efficiency level is 48.05 per cent. It will require around 12,000 tonnes of coal daily to generate electricity.
The consortium of the China Energy Engineering Group, the Northeast Electric Power Construction Co Ltd, and the China National Energy Engineering & Construction Co Ltd was the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor of the project.
The BCPCL, owner of the Payra coal-fired power plant, inked US$1.56 billion contract with the Chinese consortium on March 29, 2016.
The BCPCL, a 50:50 joint venture between the state-owned North-West Power Generation Company Ltd (NWPGCL) and the China National Machinery Import and Export Corporation (CMC), implemented the power plant project.
The project was implemented on a 30:70 equity debt ratio, meaning that the NWPGCL and the CMC provided 30 per cent fund of the total project cost, and mobilised the remaining 70 per cent from external sources.
The BCPCL provided 20 per cent equity to implement the power plant project, and the remaining 80 per cent is being sourced as loan from Exim Bank of China.
For implementing the project, the government has issued a state guarantee worth $1.0 billion in favour of the Chinese loan, and also allocated around 998.77 acres of land on turnkey basis.
The initial talks to implement the power plant started around five years back with the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the NWPGCL and the CMC on March 19, 2014.
Its land development and protection project involving Tk 7.83 billion was approved by the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) on October 21, 2014.
Azizjst@yahoo.com