Bangladesh to Develop Thermal Power Plants with $3.5 Billion Investment

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--In an effort to tackle power shortages, Bangladesh has decided to build five coal-fired power plants, each with a generation capacity of 500 megawatts (MW), at a total investment of $3.5 billion. Project development has already been initiated. Construction of the projects is expected to take four years. Tenders for construction of the power plants will be floated shortly, and both local and foreign firms will be eligible to participate in the bid.

In the absence of a domestic coal policy, the proposed ventures may however be required to import coal from Australia, Indonesia or India, although Bangladesh itself has large untapped coal reserves. The country's Ministry of Power and Energy is in the process of formulating a policy for coal-based power development in order to provide impetus to thermal power projects and coal mining in the country.

About 80% of the country's power generation is fueled by natural gas. Bangladesh is estimated to have 13.54 trillion cubic feet of recoverable natural gas. In addition, the country has vast reserves of coal, amounting to 2.9 billion tons spread across five coalfields, including Phulbari with 592 million tons, Barapukuria with 390 million tons, Khalaspir with an 828 million deposit, Jamalganj with reserves of 1.05 billion tons and the estimated deposits at Dighirpar coalfield of 200 million tons. A significant chunk of the deposits, amounting to 492 million tons of coal with an energy equivalent to 14 trillion cubic feet of gas, could be recovered from these reserves once the nation puts a coal-mining policy in place.

The Bangladesh Power Development Board (PDB) (Dhaka, Bangladesh) has identified about 13 potential coal-mining locations across the country in Bheramara, Chittagong, Cox's Bazar, Chandpur, Dighipara, Khulna, Meghnaghat, Mawa Upstream, Mawa Downstream, Mongla, Phulbari, Khalaspir and a third unit in the Barapukuria coal mine area. The PDB plans to initially generate about 1,000 MW of thermal power over the next couple of years. The PDB's focus is set on the four sites of Chittagong, Khulna, Mongla and Meghnaghat, which already have a basic infrastructure in place and hence would require minimum time for development of thermal power plants.

The PDB, along with Japan International Cooperation Agency (Tokyo, Japan), plans to conduct a feasibility study on thermal power production in Bangladesh and formulate a master policy.

Bangladesh currently faces a power shortfall of about 2,000 MW per day, while its gas shortage stands at 250 million cubic feet per day. The country plans to increase its power generation capacity from the current level of 5,000 MW per day to 7,000 MW per day by 2014. However, the demand for power is expected to reach 9,000 MW during the same period. The PDB has an installed generation capacity of about 4,000 MW of power based on a feedstock of natural gas. An additional 4000 MW of power is eventually expected to come from the new thermal power plants, reducing the power shortage by about 50% of the present figure.

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