Bangladesh's immediate targets that need to be achieved in the electricity sector are to improve transmission and distribution systems to power its growing economy further.
Deepesh Nanda, chief executive officer (CEO) of General Electric's (GE) gas power business in South Asia, made the observation while talking to The Financial Express (FE) recently.
The US-based multinational company (MNC) has been actively involved in Bangladesh's development especially in the power and energy sector for around 50 years since 1970.
Mr Nanda shared elaborately the MNC's contributions, investment and future outlook for Bangladesh.
"While the country has exceeded around 25 GW of installed power generation capacity, among the immediate targets yet to be achieved in future are to provide 10 per cent electricity from renewable sources and improve electricity transmission and distribution," he said.
These measures, he added, will boost the momentum towards clean energy generation, while gas power continues to remain the primary source of electricity in the country.
In the last decade, GE Gas Power achieved many milestones that paved the company's robust footprint in the country," he said. "The journey so far for GE has also coincided with this country's growth trajectory to become a power-surplus nation."
Over the years, the GE has charted a path in the region to decode and capture the demand by not only providing the latest and advanced technology for upcoming and existing gas power plants, but also supporting the customers through an advisory on fuel-supply (LNG), project viability and tariff economics, financing, and getting the right stakeholders on board.
From an investment standpoint, Mr Nanda said the GE has been an equity investor in projects like Meghnaghat 335 MW and 341 MW Bibiyana II combined cycle power plants (CCPP) owned by Summit Power. Both these power plants have been running satisfactorily since their commissioning in 2015.
When it comes to offering innovative solutions to customers, the GE is supporting the conversion of old- and low-efficiency steam turbine plants at Ghorashal 3rd Unit and Ghorashal 4th Unit to modernise them through repowering into combined-cycle gas power plants, Mr Nanda said.
It will help better utilization of the fuel and enhance the power output significantly, he said, adding that the repowering will add about 25 years to the lifetime of the power plants.
"We are also supplying GE's aero-derivative LMS 100 gas turbine, first in South Asia, for the 100 MW power plant in Shahjibazar. The gas turbine is designed to operate in SWING mode to address continuous load fluctuations at the grid level. All these power plants are in their final stages of commencing commercial operations," he said.
Hitting a major milestone, two of the GE's advanced and record-setting 9HA.01 gas turbines have arrived in Bangladesh and will be installed at the upcoming combined-cycle gas power plants owned separately by Summit Power and Unique Group.
Both the power plants located in Meghnaghat are expected to come online in 2022, and each will generate electricity equivalent to supply more than 700,000 homes in Bangladesh.
The GE is also responsible for the turnkey scope in both projects. GE's H-class gas turbines are among the world's fastest-growing fleet and achieved more than 1.0 million operating hours recently. The technology is able to provide significant emission reductions and is also capable of burning Hydrogen fuel blended with natural gas.
"We will continue to position the HA technology for various other upcoming power projects in Bangladesh, allowing the country to shift gears and adopt new powering technology which is future-ready," he added.
On providing fuel security, the GE collaborated with Summit Power for the initial development of the 1st private sector FSRU (Floating Storage Regasification Unit) in Bangladesh in 2018, at the time when Bangladesh needed stable and continuous fuel supply the most.
Apart from the above power projects, in last decade the GE's technology is powering several other key power plants in Bangladesh such as Shahjibazar 335 MW CCPP and Khulna 335 MW CCPP both owned by BPDB (Bangladesh Power Development Board), Siddhirganj 335 MW CCPP owned by EGCB, Kushiara Power 163 MW owned by Max Group, Bhola I CCPP owned by BPDB and Bhola II CCPP owned by SP Group India, and Meghnaghat 718 MW CCPP owned by India's Reliance Power and Japan's JERA.
The GE has been providing a full scope of power services solutions including multi-year contracts for repairs and maintenance to the customers in Bangladesh.
"Our gas turbine upgrades help the customers run the power plants competitively in the market, while preparing them for less carbon emissions future. Recently, we signed an agreement to provide maintenance services and a suite of digital solutions for the upcoming 718 MW CCCP in Meghnaghat," said Mr Nanda.
The 22-year agreement also includes implementation of plant-wide digital solutions on cloud APM (Asset Performance Maintenance) Health & Reliability, OPM (Operations Performance Maintenance) Performance Intelligence, and Base Line Security Centre for the contract term, he said.
Pointing to Bangladesh's growth potential in power and energy sectors, he said Bangladesh has made exemplary progress when it comes to the power sector and has set new benchmarks for the world in terms of on-ground execution of the progressive policy framework.
It is encouraging to see that the growth curve hasn't stopped and there is significant market appetite for the future, he added.
The country has the vision to provide 'Power for All' and targets to achieve 46 GW of installed power generation capacity by 2030 - nearly double from the current level. There is also a notable intent to transition towards low to zero-carbon emissions and the adoption of cleaner sources of energy.
Bangladesh has been able to maintain a decent GDP (gross domestic product) growth rate despite global slowdown and COVID-19 related challenges and as per estimates is expected to bounce back to around 7.0 per cent in 2022.
Owing to an attractive business and investment environment, the infrastructure development and exports are witnessing an uptick, he noted.
The country's dependence on agriculture is decreasing and Bangladesh is steadily moving towards becoming an industrial economy. On the other hand, the services sector is also growing and accounts for around 51.3 per cent of GDP while employing about 39 per cent of the population.
To sustain this growth curve, the country needed an uninterrupted supply of reliable power on a 24X7 basis. There is also a huge scope to improve the per capita energy consumption in Bangladesh that still remains among the lowest in the world.
These indicators show a promising future for the power sector, inviting innovative technology and business models to set new growth trends, said Mr Nanda.
The heart or core of any gas power plant is its gas turbine technology. The efficiency, reliability, availability and serviceability of the gas turbine technology more or less define whether a combined-cycle power plant will be successful or not in terms of efficiency, operational costs and life-cycle.
Then comes the costs related to the development and installation of the power plant. The third phase is proper maintenance of the power plant as per the OEM and international guidelines.
The GE is the only OEM (original equipment manufacturer) in Bangladesh to provide 360-degree solutions and the most comprehensive suite of offerings for any power needed.
The GE has been supplying the state-of-the-art gas turbines, steam turbines, heat recovery steam generators, DCS, generator circuit breakers etc. and other critical equipment manufactured at its factories or being sourced from a wide supplier base across the globe, said Mr Nanda.
GE is providing turnkey solutions to customers, either as the sole EPC (Engineering, Procurement and Construction) partner or in partnership with globally reputed EPCs. GE has also been investing as equity in many power projects owned by IPPs and by BPDB. We are supporting our customer by giving access to our global network to arrange for low-cost financing from internationally accepted ECAs and other finance institutes.
GE has been present in Bangladesh for more than 50 years and at present it has an installed base of 38 gas turbines, capable of generating over 3 GW of reliable electricity equivalent to supply to more than 3.6 million homes in Bangladesh.
At this moment, GE has more than 2,000 people working, both direct and indirect hires, in Bangladesh for its different functions and projects, most of the talents working in GE are hired locally. The power sector in Bangladesh continues to evolve and the GE would continue to play a key role in this development.
The GE is committed to making significant contributions to improve the economic status of Bangladesh and play a role in the country's journey to become a middle-income nation in the near future and further transitioning to a developed country in the long-term through talent development, customer training and jobs creation, said Mr Nanda.
To make this happen over the next two decades, having universal access to high-quality, reliable electricity is key. It will fuel the economic activities and help improve energy access.
Across all our projects in Bangladesh, the GE is also responsible for imparting technical training to the customer teams. "Over the years, we have been able to develop a solid team of highly experienced professionals by hiring from the local market."
Soon after hiring, these individuals undergo various training modules so they can understand and remain compliant with GE's standard work and processes. All our suppliers and partners undergo similar training on EHS (Environment, Health and Safety), Compliance and IT - that helps them come on board faster.
The people working on our project sites and helping us to take forward the construction activities on various fronts have been extremely resilient and dedicated to working towards delivering greater results to the customers in a time-bound manner.
The GE follows strict regulatory protocols to ensure the safety and health of the workforce - which is our number one priority. It helps us keep everyone safe at the sites and carry out the daily tasks in an uninterrupted manner.
Regarding GE Gas Power's business outlook in the country, Mr Nanda said Bangladesh has been able to infuse a positive investment scenario by taking strategic decisions like 'Speedy Power Act', promoting public-private-partnership and unbundling of electricity market structure bringing transparency and ownership into the system.
He said the GE believes that lower-carbon solutions, such as renewable energy supported by gas power, can contribute to a more decarbonised energy future of Bangladesh.
Their complementary nature offers tremendous potential to help cut carbon emissions with the speed and scale the world requires, he added.
"We are optimistic and positive about the power sector market potential in Bangladesh and see a solid pipeline of upcoming power projects wherein GE's technology can play a role."
For GE, Mr Nanda concluded, every project is unique and the teams are focused to enhance the customer's experience at each level. "We like to win together with our customers and strive to add new elements through continuous improvement and stay relevant in the market."
