Prioritise power transmission: ICCB

Experts suggest giving top priority to improving power transmission and distribution alongside on shore and offshore gas and oil exploration, as Bangladesh will need an estimated 34,000MW of power by 2030 to sustain economic growth of over 7 per cent.

There has been a breakthrough over the past few years in power generation, with installed capacity reaching over 23,000 megawatts (MW), resulting in around 8,000MW of surplus as per Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB).

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But consumers in many areas still have been complaining about frequent supply interruptions due to transmission weakness, says a press release of the International Chamber of Commerce-Bangladesh (ICCB) sent yesterday.

This was also reflected in the BPDB figures that show the country's transmission capacity has increased by only 104 kilometres (km) to 12,996 km in the last one year.

The situation will further deteriorate with the start of power generation by 1,320 MW Rampal, 1,200 MW Matarbari and 2,400 MW Rooppur power plants within the next two to three years.

In addition, attention should be given in resolving high system losses, delays in completion of new plants, low plant efficiency, erratic power supply, electricity theft and shortages of funds for power plant maintenance.

Adequate supply of electricity is one of the key indicators of economic development. Bangladesh's GDP of $455 billion is expected to become $510 billion in fiscal year 2022-23.

But this requires keeping an eye on the present commercial energy resources -- indigenous natural gas, coal, hydroelectricity and imported oil, liquefied petroleum gas and liquefied natural gas.

Biomass accounts for about 27 per cent of the primary energy and the rest 73 per cent is being met by commercial energy.

Natural gas accounts for about 62 per cent of the commercial energy, imported LNG 8 per cent while imported oil accounts for the lion's share of the rest.

According to recent world trend, the supply of LNG and coal may not only become uncertain but expensive for power generation from coal and gas based plants, says an ICCB news bulletin editorial of Oct-Dec' 2021 issue.