Coal crisis halts production at Rampal plant

Khulna division has been experiencing acute load-shedding even in the winter due to the suspension of power production at Rampal power plant amid a shortage of coal caused by the dollar crisis.

The production came to a halt on January 14, twenty-seven days after the coal-fired plant in Bagerhat started power generation by adding 660MW of electricity to the national grid produced from its first unit.

The authorities of Khulna West Zone Power Distribution Company (WZPDC), which distributes power in Khulna and Barishal region, have been struggling to meet the electricity demand although the demand comes to half in the winter.

On Thursday, the Khulna region experienced 24MW load-shedding in off-peak hours while during peak hours it was 4MW. On Friday, the load-shedding was 5MW while the residents of different areas in the city experienced power outages, officials said.

Anwarul Azim, deputy manager of Bangladesh-India Partnership Power Company Ltd (BCPCL), said the import of coal was suspended due to the crisis of US dollar that cut production by half on January 14.

The BCPCL is a joint venture of the Chinese firm China National Machinery Import and Export Corporation (CMC) and Bangladeshi state-owned North-West Power Generation Company Bangladesh Limited (NWPGCL).

Rampal power plant’s Unit-1 has a capacity of producing 660MW of electricity. Before the suspension of production, its first unit was used to produce 560-570MW.

Of this, 400MW was added to the national grid via the Aminbazar-Gopalganj transmission line and 260MW was added to Khulna-Bagerhat.

Around 5,000 tonnes of coal are needed for the operation of the power plant and all are imported from Indonesia, but due to the dollar crisis, the import of coal was suspended.

Anwarul Azim said banks did not allow the opening of letter of credit (LC) for importing coal due to the dollar crisis.

“Already, a coal-carrying vessel from Indonesia is ready to leave for Bangladesh. We are trying our best to import coal. We hope the problem will be resolved soon,” he added.