In the 15-plus years of the last government, the energy and power sectors of Bangladesh have been all but destroyed. It would not only require a long time to recover, but also many unpleasant and difficult decisions. The country has been made heavily dependent on imported fuels as well as power.

The equipment for radiation monitoring systems of Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant (RNPP) will arrive at the plant site soon.

The equipment for automated process control systems (APCS) for unit-1 and unit-2 of the plant have been shipped from Russia, said a statement issued by Rosatom's PR agency in Bangladesh.

The Russian authorities are not inclined to approve Bangladesh's proposal to extend the loan disbursement period by two years for the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant's construction.

Energy powers modern society, yet much of it still comes from polluting fossil fuels like coal and gas. In Bangladesh, gas-powered plants dominate power generation, with coal and fuel oil also in use. However, declining gas production and the absence of new coal reserves have increased reliance on imported liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and coal, adding economic and environmental stress. This situation makes it crucial for Bangladesh to transition to renewable energy, with solar power, the most abundant source, playing a pivotal role.

Developed countries are the primary beneficiaries of these subsidies, which are contributing to global temperature rise and biodiversity loss, an ActionAid survey report said

Petrobangla has extended the submission date of the international offshore block bidding round to December 9 from September 9, 2024 to get a better response from international oil-gas companies for exploration of oil-gas in the Bay of Bangle.

Among the five Indian entities exporting power to Bangladesh, Adani Power has recently received partial payments amounting to $70 million, but this falls significantly short of the $90-100 million billed each month

Another expensive project undertaken by the past government has thrown the state exchequer into a quandary as the cost of power-transmission line from Pyra has more than doubled, insiders said on Saturday.

The massive 135-percent cost escalation of the Pyra-Gopalganj-Aminbazar 400kV double-circuit transmission- line project's 2nd phase has put further pressure on Bangladesh's foreign-exchange reserves, they said.

Month-on-month capacity- charge payments to a bunch of privileged private electricity producers during the deposed Sheikh Hasina administration had been swelling beyond the capacity of the exchequer, insiders said on Friday.

The Sheikh Hasina government purchased power from the costly private-sector stations and rental plants by keeping the public-sector stations allegedly idle, they said.

Neighboring Myanmar has approximately 23 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of gas reserves. At one point, it was said that the country’s gas reserves would meet its domestic demand for at least 150 years. For a long time, Myanmar exported surplus gas to China and Thailand. However, the ongoing civil war has disrupted the country’s gas extraction activities. Several Western companies have halted their operations in Myanmar, leaving consumers to face a gas shortage despite the surplus.

The 68 MW Shirajgonj solar park has been supplying power to the national grid since July, 2024. Developed on 214 acres of land located on the flood plains of the river Jamuna (near the Jamuna Multi Purpose Bridge). the solar park has so far installed 156,576 units of interconnected solar panels with the capacity of 545 watt each. The plant is being operated by the Bangladesh-China Renewable Energy Company Limited (BCRECL)-- a joint venture of North-West Power Generation Company of Bangladesh and China National Machinery Import and Export Corporation. BCRECL invested approximately US$ 90 million for implementing the plant and signed a contract with BPDB to supply power to BPDB grid for 20 years at a tariff of US 10.20 cents per unit.

The problems in the energy and power sector have not accumulated over just 15 years. It began in the early 1980s. At the root of the problem lies the neo-liberal ideological approach that since then turned the power sector into a profit-making enterprise for a handful of local and foreign businesses. The alternative approach is fundamentally different—where access to energy and power should be a public right, and resources kept in public ownership and not privatised or turned into private businesses. Under the alternative approach, essential services such as affordable electricity, gas, and water become available for all without discrimination.

The interim government's move to purchase liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the spot market faced a setback as the bids offered fell short of minimum requirement under the Public Procurement Rules (PPR) 2008.

Two LCs, 184 fake invoices, and the money was gone.

This is how SS Power Limited, a concern of S Alam Group, laundered $815.78 million (around Tk 10,000 crore) from Bangladesh between 2019 and 2023, draining the country's hard-earned dollars.

The Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) is preparing to float tenders for development of 10 grid-connected solar power plants in the private sector, each with a capacity of 50 MW, totaling 500 MW, reports UNB.

According to official sources, the move came against the backdrop of the interim government's decision not to sign any further contract under the Enhancement of Power and Energy Supply Act (Special) Act, 2010.