The second unit of the 1,320MW Rampal Thermal Power Plant in Bagerhat was shut down on Sunday morning due to a technical fault.
Officials said it may take at least four days to restart.
The unit stopped operating around 11am, while the plant’s first unit remains in operation and is continuing to supply electricity to the national grid.
Anwarul Azim, general manager of the plant’s human resources department, confirmed the shutdown.
“The second unit has been shut down due to a technical fault. Work is underway to fix the problem, and it will take at least four days to restart the unit,” he said.
He could not specify the nature of the technical fault.
The Rampal power plant was developed as a joint venture between Bangladesh and India. The Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) and India’s NTPC Ltd signed an agreement on 29 January 2012, leading to the formation of the Bangladesh-India Friendship Power Company (Pvt) Ltd (BIFPCL).
The 1,320MW Maitree Super Thermal Power Project was built under BIFPCL on 1,034 acres of land in Rajnagar and Gourambha unions of Rampal upazila.
The project was constructed at a cost of around Tk16,000 crore. The plant’s first unit began generation on 23 December 2022.
The second unit started trial generation on 24 October 2023, and entered commercial operation on 12 March 2024. Since then, the plant has faced repeated disruptions.
According to plant sources, generation has been suspended more than 30 times due to technical faults and other problems since the start of commercial operations.
