Load shedding returned in the official record after a brief pause as days got warmer raising the electricity demand, ending a wet spell that had substantially reduced the power demand. Official records of electricity supply and demand over the temperature change once again exposed high power sector unreliability, showing that Bangladesh’s actual capacity to meet power demand without interruption is about 10,000MW.

Bangladesh’s current installed power capacity is 24,611MW with new power capacity added almost every month. On Thursday, Bangladesh officially recorded 503MW of load shedding at 12:00 am, according to the daily report provided by the Power Grid Company of Bangladesh, with a production of 13,129MW against the demand of 13,650MW. The load shedding recorded on Thursday was the highest in the month and since September 29, the day the PGCB recorded 620MW of load shedding.

Load shedding persisted almost uninterrupted except for brief periods of heavy monsoon rain one of which visited Bangladesh in the first week of October. In the early hours of Oct 5, the electricity demand dropped to 10,000MW or less, often at 8,000MW, beginning the rare hours in which no load shedding was officially recorded for about two days. The temperature in the load-shedding-free days dropped to around 30C. Load shedding returned at 11:00 am on October 7 when electricity demand rose to 12,750MW against production of 12,466MW.

Load shedding in fact becomes inevitable even when the power demand remained about 10,000MW for hours in a row. Non-stop load shedding returned from October 10 again after days of heavy rain between October 4 and October 8. On Thursday, Bangladesh’s maximum day temperature was recorded to be 36C in Khulna and Satkhira. Bangladesh Meteorological Department said that the overall environment would remain more or less the same over the next week. With monsoon expecting to withdraw in a few days, the possibility of rain diminishes, the BMD said.

The actual picture of load shedding is far worse as reports came from rural areas about hours of load shedding every day, ever since the government officially announced rolling power cuts in July last year.

Power Development Board has been assuring people of ensuring uninterrupted power supply, particularly after the coal-based SS power plant became operational and the coal-fired Matarbari power plant started test operation recently.

‘There is no load shedding,’ said SM Wazed Ali Sader, member, PDB, who is in charge of power generation, refusing to the accept data released by the PGCB. The power situation worsened as the 1,600 MW Adani power plant closed down one of its two units just when the demand for electricity increased. Although the PDB claimed a disruption in coal supply caused the Adani power supply fall, newspapers reported that mounting dues prompted the closure. The Payra and Rampal power plants are not operating in their full capacity offering no explanation. ‘Some power plants are partially operating because there is no more demand for electricity,’ said Wazed Ali.

News Link: https://www.newagebd.net/article/214834/fluctuating-temp-reveals-govt-can-smoothly-supply-10000mw