India-Bangladesh joint thermal power plant to resume production after month-long halt

BIFPC is a joint venture by India's state-owned NTPC and Bangladesh Power Development Board

A joint India-Bangladesh super thermal power plant in this country, shut down for a month due to coal shortage, will resume partial operations, according to media reports on Wednesday.

One of the two 660 MW units at Rampal power plant will resume electricity production on Wednesday after the coal import to run the unit was ensured amid a dollar crisis facing Bangladesh, BD News quoted Anwarul Azim, deputy general manager of Bangladesh-India Friendship Power Company Limited, as saying.

Bangladesh India Friendship Power Company (BIFPC) is a joint venture by India's state-owned National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) and Bangladesh Power Development Board.

Rampal power plant, also known as Maitree Super Thermal Power Plant, is one of the largest power plants in Bangladesh set up at an estimated cost of $2 billion with $1.6 billion as Indian Development Assistance under Concessional Financing Scheme.

The 1,320-megawatt power plant based in Bagerhat district of Khulna Division decided to resume production after a ship carrying 30,000 tonnes of coal arrived in Rampal on February 9 and another with 50,000 tonnes more is scheduled to dock on February 18, Azim said.

Currently, the unit needs 5,000 tonnes of coal to supply 560-570 MW a day, meaning the first shipment would be sufficient to run the unit for six days.

It would be possible to run the unit for another 10 days after the second shipment of coal arrives.

The authorities are supposed to keep a month’s coal stock at the power station, but it could not be possible due to a global energy crisis.

The suspension of production on January 14 did not affect the country much as demand was very low with less cooling needs owing to the winter season.

As spring has arrived, some areas in Bangladesh have started to experience power outages again.

During her visit to India on September 6 last year, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi jointly inaugurated one unit of the plant. The plant started supplying electricity to the National Grid on December 17.

The project in an area of over 1,834 acres is situated 14 kilometres north of the world's largest mangrove forest Sundarbans which is a UNESCO world heritage site.