Energy & Power

Snapshots

Renewable Resources Growing Energy Technology: WB
Renewable energy is the fastest growing energy technology in the world and has a major role to play in reducing poverty while protecting the environment, according to the World Bank.

In its report Improving Lives: World Bank Progress on Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency in Fiscal Year 2006, released recently, the bank said its annual commitments for renewable energy and energy efficiency projects totaled $668 million -- nearly double the 2005 level.

The funding, supporting 34 projects in 61 developing countries, is "an environmentally sustainable way to address the problem of one and a half billion people in the world who do not have access to modern energy," said Anil Cabraal, the bank’s lead energy specialist.

Special Tribunal to Realize Arrear Bill

The caretaker government is likely to set up a special tribunal for speedy disposal of cases that have blocked realization of Tk 4.9 billion in arrear electricity bills from the private consumers.

The energy division has already prepared a list comprising nearly 500 consumers, who have filed writ petitions with the court to prevent the Dhaka Electricity Supply Authority (DESA) from realizing the arrears for long.

The writs, many are decade-old, have remained unsettled for years due to intricacies in the existing laws. Most of the writ petitioners are industrialists and businessmen.

The energy division has taken the move to speed up the collection process of the DESA that has been struggling to minimize the systems loss, power theft and huge overdue arrears lying with both the government and non-government entities.

As of October 2006, the DESA's outstanding arrears stood at TK 7.80 billion of which the non-government sector accounts for Tk 4.90 billion. On the other hand, the DESA owed Tk 29.94 billion to Power Development Board (PDB) and Tk 1.15 billion to Power Grid Company of Bangladesh until the same period.

ADB Mission to Review Power Sector Reforms

An Asian Development Bank (ADB) mission will visit Bangladesh from February 20 to review the power sector reforms in Bangladesh prior to releasing their committed fund for this sector. The delegation from the ADB's headquarters, Manila, will stay in Bangladesh till March 7.

The ADB last year made commitment to provide $465 million in loan to government of Bangladesh for the power sector development that now awaits disbursement.

Under the development funds, two power generation projects-a 150 MW capacity Khulna and another 150 MW capacity Sirajganj power units and nine power distribution projects would be implemented. "After reviewing, the ADB mission will place the report with its headquarters and then the decision about disbursement of the loan will be taken," said a concerned official.

Meanwhile, another mission of ADB visited Dhaka from February 6 to 8 to review the development programs financed by them, power sector reform works and the latest political situation obtaining in the country.
Director General of the ADB's South Asian Department, Kunio Senga led the mission.

Barapukuria-2 Starts Operation with Imported Coal

The unit-2 of Barapukuria coal-fired power plant, having a capacity of 125 MW started generation with coal imported from India, as the Petrobangla, the state-owned oil and gas company, could not supply adequate coal from its mine.

The Power Development Board (PDB) imported about 25,000 tons of coal worth about Tk 160 million from India to resume power production from the unit of the plant. The unit-2 of Barapukuria coal-fired power plant remained inoperative during the last few months.

A PDB official said that the PDB had to pay US$ 10 more for per ton of imported coal than the price of the locally produced one. After getting approval of the evaluation report from the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources (MPEMR) on the tender for importing coal, the PDB imported coal on an urgent basis.

Steps to Prevent Smuggling of Gasoline

An inter-ministerial meeting has decided to take measures for preventing smuggling of gasoline in a bid to ensure smooth supply of fuel oil for irrigation purpose in the current 'boro' cultivation season.

The meeting advised the relevant agencies to strengthen the overall monitoring systems for ensuring uninterrupted supply of diesel to the farmers throughout the country.

Presided over by the Energy Secretary A M M Nasiruddin, the meeting was attended by senior officials from Ministries of Agriculture, Home Affairs and Shipping, Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) and Bangladesh Railway.

Power Tariff Goes up by 5%

The cabinet committee on economic affairs has endorsed a decision on power tariff hike by 5 percent for retail consumers and 10 percent for bulk consumers.

Residential clients of urban areas will have to pay the enhanced electricity tariff, while rural domestic customers have been given waiver from the hike. The urban clients who will consume less than 100 units of electricity will also get relief from the increased tariff.

At present, electricity tariff in rural areas is higher than that in towns and cities.

"The electricity tariff was enhanced to bring equilibrium to the varied rates existing between rural and urban consumers," the caretaker government's Advisor on Finance, Planning, Commerce and Posts and Telecommunications Ministry AB Mirza Azizul Islam told the newsmen.

"This will have no impact on the small-scale customers who consume up to 100 units," said Islam after presiding over the meeting. The hike in power tariff was earlier decided by the previous government and a gazette notification in this connection was also published, which was later suspended, he informed.

The Enhanced power tariff will be effective from March 1.

Speedy Installation of Rental Power Plants Sought

Against the backdrop of acute power supply shortfall across the country, Energy Advisor Tapan Chowdhury recently held a meeting with private operators for speedy installation of rental power plants to help overcome the electricity supply shortfall in the country.

The advisor discussed with the operators about the conditions set by them for setting up at least seven power plants in the country. The private operators said now they want changes in the original proposals which the government approved several months ago. They sought such changes due to delay in installation of the plants.

The advisor assured them that his ministry would send the proposals to the higher authority for its approval as soon as possible, sources in the meeting said.

The private companies urged the adviser to fulfill the conditions so that they could set up the plants in time. They pointed out the current gas shortage and the rise in project cost for the delay in implementation. It is difficult to set up the power units as per the existing proposals that were approved more than nine months ago.

They said the delay in signing agreements and starting installation work has now necessitated bringing some changes to the original proposals.

Sources at the ministry said the power operators have proposed to allow them to set up land-based power plants, instead of barge-mounted units, and to extend the operational period of two power plants.

Govt to Set up Petrochemical Complex

The government has planned to set up the country's first-ever petrochemical complex at Ashuganj to ensure maximum utilization of the fast-depleting natural gas. Sources said valuable contents like ethane and propane will be separated from the natural gas at the planned petrochemical complex for producing ethylene and propylene and subsequent use by companies producing plastic materials.

Despite having high quality ingredients, no steps have so far been taken to separate those from natural gas for use as raw materials by industries. Currently, the liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) is the only component being separated from the natural gas.

"We have taken the issue of setting up the petrochemical complex seriously to boost revenue earnings through value addition to our natural gas," said Energy and Mineral Resources Division Secretary AMM Nasiruddin.

He said a high-powered committee has already been constituted for placing necessary recommendations on the petrochemical complex. The energy division will sort out the options for setting up the complex soon through discussions with the experts following submission of the committee recommendations, the EMRD secretary said.

Energy Div to Seek Tk 15b Fund to Help BPC

The Energy Division will seek Tk 15 billion worth of funds from the Finance Ministry to help the ailing state-run Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) foot its fuel-oil import bills.

"We are going to propose to the Ministry of Finance for sanctioning a lump sum of Tk 15 billion to facilitate immediate payment of the BPC's fuel import bill," a senior Energy Division official said.

In addition to that, the Energy Division will also propose to the government to continue the payment of Tk 2 billion every month for off-setting the loss incurred by the BPC.

The BPC is currently supplying fuel oil to the domestic market at a price lower than its import cost, resulting in its huge financial loss.

According to official sources, the BPC's financial crisis has become so acute that it now finds itself in a difficult situation to open letters of credit (LC) for importing petroleum oil from next month.

It is now in a position to meet the fuel import bill until the current month with credit support from the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) along with available fund from local sales, the source mentioned.