Government is working to eliminate load shedding. It is gradually improving, the situation will be normal within 20 days, said the Advisor of power, energy and mineral resources Dr. Muhammad Fawzul Kabir Khan.
He made this comment in a meeting with the Executive Committee of Forum for Energy Reporters Bangladesh (FERB) at the Secretariat on Wednesday (September 11) at noon. Electricity load shedding has increased with the heat for a few days, there are reports of load shedding day and night.
The Advisor said that several incidents have happened simultaneously due to which the load shedding is happening. Barapukuria coal based power plant has been shut down suddenly. At the same time a mechanical fault occurred in one of Rampal's units. This crisis would have been easier to deal with if the gas supply was in place. But as Summit Group's FSRU (Floating LNG Terminal) has been out of order for months, gas supply is not being extended. LNG import is in progress, it will take about 15-20 days. Then the supply of gas will increase. Due to the gas crisis, not only us, industry, fertilizer factories are facing problems everywhere.
He said that initiatives have been taken to start the Barapukuria power plant and Rampal quickly. Hopefully the situation will gradually improve. We expect the situation to return to normal within 15 to 20 days.
Regarding load shedding, Senior Secretary of Power Division Habibur Rahman said that the situation has improved today compared to yesterday (September 10). Around noon on September 11, there was a load shedding of 1,000 megawatts. The pump which has been replaced by Barapukuria power plant is being brought by plane from China. It will be launched by Sunday. An initiative has been taken to speed up the faulty unit of Rampal power plant.
The Senior Secretary said, maybe you wouldn't have been able to figure it out at another time. Now many events have happened together, including the gas crisis, due to which the crisis has arisen. I used to get 7,000 megawatts of electricity from gas. We are getting 4800 MW due to reduction in gas supply. There is a shortfall of 2200 MW.
Regarding the money owed by the Indian company Adani Group, he said, there is no money crisis here. We have given Tk. 100 million to Sonali Bank. They are unable to pay due to lack of dollars. We can pay more. Hopefully Adani will have no problem getting electricity.