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How-much-power-does-Bangladesh-require?

- by Admin

With-more-power-plants-coming-into-operation-this-week,Bangladesh’s-installed-electricity-generation capacity-will-reach-over-26,000-megawatts,including-captive-and-off-grid-renewable-power,well-surpassing-a-government-set-target-of-attaining24,000MW-in-2021. Over-the-past-decade,Bangladesh’s-power-generation-capacity-quintupled-from-4,942MW-in-2009-to-25,235MW-now,-and-with-four-more-plants-coming-into-operation-and-yet-another-going-for-expansion–a-total-of-879MW-more-power-will-be-added-from-this-week. During-the-same-period–between-2009-and-2021–retail-power-tariff-also-saw-almost-a-100%-increase-from-Tk3.60-per-unit-to-Tk7.13. The-question-now-arises–how-much-electricity-Bangladesh-requires-and-at-what-cost?-Yet,a-bigger-question-has-arisen–are-the-once-power-starved-and-now-power-happy-consumers-in-Bangladesh-being-made-to-pay-for-the-high “capacity cost”. Official-and-unofficial-figures-show-Bangladesh-hardly-utilizes-half-of-its-installed-power-capacity,but-each-year-government-makes-a-hefty-payment-to-power-plants-as”capacity-cost”despite-not-utilizing-the-electricity. Recent-statistics-provided-by-the-Centre-for-Policy-Dialogue(CPD)shows-how-the-government’s”capacity-payment”against-idle-plants-and-unutilized-power-has-had-a-phenomenal-rise-of-nearly-400%-from-Tk1,790-crore-in-2010-11-financial-year-to-Tk8,929-crore-in-2019-20. US-based-policy-think-tank,the-Institute-forEnergy-Economics-and-Financial-Analysis(IEEFA)-has-cautioned-that-overcapacity-has-serious-implications-on-power-tariff-and-the-capacity-payments-to-power-plants-that-increasingly-sit-idle-raise-the-per-unit-cost-of-generation. What’s-capacity-cost Capacity-charges-are-based-on-the-highest-amount-of-energy-one-estimates-to-use-or-consume-during-a-given-time-in-a-given-geographic-location.Essentially,one-has-to-pay-a-fee-to-ensure-that-the-electricity-one-might-use-is-there,whenever-it’s-needed.No-matter,one-uses-that-amount-of-power-or-not–for-whatever-reasons–the-cost-of-that-generation-capacity-has-to-be-borne. Take-Bangladesh’s-biggest-power-plant,the-1,320MW-Payra-Power-Plant,as-an-example-where-the-government-is-counting-Tk130-crore-a-month-in-losses-as-it-has-to-pay-the-amount-as-the-capacity-cost-to-this-Sino-Bangla-joint-venture,where-the-power-is-r1eady-for-supply-but-the-government-does-not-have-the-capacity-to-transmit it. Also-Read-Rampal-power-plant-moving-at-snail’s-pace Thanks-to-the-delay-in-laying-out-the-transmission-line-to-take-the-power-from-Payra-to-Dhaka-via-Padma-River,the-government-is-failing-to-bring-the-power-to-the-national-grid-and-paying-the-penalty. In-this-case,the-capacity-payment-means-the-government’s-commitment-to-purchase-power-generated-at-the-plant-at-an-agreed-upon-rate.The-government-still-has-to-pay-the-plant-for-its-generation-even-if-it-is-unable-to-take-the-electricity-from-it. Is-Bangladesh’s-power-overcapacity-problem-getting-worse? The-Institute-for-Energy-Economics-and-Financial-Analysis-(IEEFA)-said-in-a-report-in-january-this-year-that-overcapacity-in-Bangladesh’s-power-system-has-worsened-and threatens-to-deteriorate-further-in-the-coming-days. The US-based-non-profit-corporation-that-keeps-track-of-energy-markets,-trends,and-policies-across-the-world,-stated-that-overall-power-capacity-utilization-in-the-fiscal-year-2019-20-was-just-40%,down-from-43%-the-previous-year—a-clear-sign-of-worsening-overcapacity-in-Bangladesh. “Worsening-overcapacity-has-significant-implications-for-the-BPDB’s(Bangladesh-Power-Development-Board)finances-as-well-as-power-tariffs,” said-IEEFA’s-Energy-Finance-Analyst-Simon-Nicholas. “Under-power-purchase-agreements,thermal-power-generators-receive-capacity-payments-regardless-of-whether-they-are-utilized-or-not.Capacity-payments-to-power-plants that increasingly sit idle raise …

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