Barapukuria coal-fired thermal power plant, one of major power generation facilities located at Parbatipur in Dinajpur district, has become a hotspot in the country’s ongoing power crisis.
The power plant’s third unit, with a generation capacity of 275MW, went out of operation on Thursday, causing severe loadshedding in eight northern districts.
The sudden shutdown of the plant unit was caused by a failure of four turbine steam sensors in the governor valve. This unit supplied 160-165MW of electricity to the national grid every day, according to the power plant authorities.
They also said the closure of the third unit severely disrupts power supply to the northern region.
The 525-megawatt plant’s power generation situation has further been deteriorated as its second unit with a capacity of 125MW has remained inoperative since November 2020 due to prolonged “maintenance work”. This unit contributed to easing some pressure on the national grid.
When contacted, Abu Bakar Siddique, chief engineer of the power plant, said only the first unit has now remained operative, contributing 50MW to the national grid every day.
“This first unit having a capacity of 125MW requires around 800 metric tonnes of coal daily,” he said, adding that the third unit would need about 1,600 metric tonnes per day to operate.
What makes the situation even more alarming is that around 440,000 metric tonnes of coal are currently stockpiled at the yard of Barapukuria Coal Mining Company Limited.
An additional 3,000 tonnes of coal is supplied every day from the mine. Despite having sufficient coal reserves, the plant has never been able to operate at the full capacity of 525MW.
With one major unit idle for almost five years and another shut down, questions have arisen about the power plant’s management.
Siddique also said repair work on the third unit of the plant is going on and is expected to be completed within a week.
“We have contacted China for spare parts and technical assistance to repair the units,” he added.
However, since the arrival date of Chinese components and experts remains uncertain, the one-week timeline has sparked skepticism among the public.
Due to maintenance at Syedpur substation, power supply through Bangladesh Rural Electrification Board’s Parbatipur Zonal Office was suspended from 9am to 2pm on Saturday, according to DGM Zahurul Haque.
Parbatipur alone has 80,000 rural electricity consumers, with a demand for 17MW. Now, they receive only 8-9MW.
The residents of eight northern districts suffer severe loadshedding every day in the wake of the power generation suspension in the units. “Uncertainty grows when electricity will come back,” a resident said.
