Countrywide power outage due to gas shortage in power plants

Load sheddingProthom Alo file photo

Countrywide load-shedding of electricity has increased because of a huge gas shortage that has led to a significant fall in power generation.

Bangladesh Power Development Board’s official data shows that the country had a power outage of 1,500 MW on Sunday while there was a power cut of 1,273 MW was predicted, reports UNB.

“Obviously the authorities will have to go for load shedding of more than the projected amount,” said a top official of the BPDB, who preferred anonymity.

The official data shows the country’s highest power generation was recorded at 12,115 MW in the evening on Sunday against a demand of 13,615 MW meaning a 1,500 MW gap between the peak demand and supply in power generation.

“This cap is being covered up by load shedding,” said the BPDB official. Normally, the power generation varies between 1300-1400 MW and the highest generation was recorded at 14,782 MW on 16 April this year.

According to BPDB official data, of the 1500 MW load shedding, the Dhaka region experienced 400 MW while Chattagram 200 MW, Khulna 220 MW, Rajshahi 220 MW, Cumilla 140 MW, Mymensingh 120 MW, Sylhet 50 MW, and Rangpur region 150 MW on Sunday last.

However, many energy experts don’t trust the BPDB statistics. Rather they believe that the extent of the load shedding and interruption in the power supply is more than the official figure.

“BPDB never provides an actual figure of its power supply scenario,” said energy expert and Consumers Association of Bangladesh’s senior vice chairman professional M Shamsul Alam.

Meanwhile, many consumers in the capital Dhaka and elsewhere reported a huge load shedding and frequent interruption in power supply.

Habibur Rahman, a consumer of the Uttara area in the city informed that he had to regularly experience load shedding in three to four spells a day and every time a power cut continues for more than half an hour.

Similar experiences were shared by consumers in other areas in the city including Malibagh, Mouchak, Nakhalpara, Shantinagar, Mogbazar, Niketon, Gulshan, Mohammadpur, Mirpur, Sutrapur, Jatrabari, and Badda.

They said the extent of such load shedding and interruption in power supply has been increasing in recent days.

BPDB officials attributed the fall in power generation to the shortage in gas supply. They said they have to suspend the generation of 3650 MW of electricity due to the shortage in gas supply to their power plants.

Recently, the state minister for power, energy and mineral resources Nasrul Hamid admitted the crisis in power and gas supply.

On his verified Facebook page he wrote: “Power production is being disrupted due to shortage of gas. As a result, the power supply is being disrupted in many places. The power generation generally will be normal once the gas supply improved”.

He also claimed the price hike of energy in the international market due to the war has put us in trouble like other countries.

“In such a situation I regret the temporary inconvenience”, he added.

State-owned Petrobangla officials noted that the country’s gas production and supply experienced a fall following a government decision not to import liquefied natural gas from the international spot market due to excessive price hike.