Energy & Power

Snapshots

Wärtsilä RAK Power Agreement for 6 MW Power Plant

RAK Power Pvt. Limited and Wärtsilä Finland Oy have signed an agreement under which Wärtsilä will supply equipments for a 6 MW Power Plant of RAK Power Pvt. Limited to be constructed at Dhanua, Sreepur, Gazipur. The Power Plant will be upgraded to 20 MW soon.

S. A. K. Ekram-uz-zaman, Managing Director, RAK Power Pvt. Limited and Goran Richardsson, Area Sales Manager, Wartsila Finland Oy have signed the agreement on behalf of their respective organizations. Mohammad Shameem, Managing Director, Wärtsilä Bangladesh Ltd. and Mohd. Amir Hossian, Director, RAK Power Pvt. Limited were present in the occasion”

50 MW Siddhirganj Plant Closed Down

The government has recently shut down a 50 megawatt (MW) Shiddhirganj power plant to install a new 240 MW power station at its site with the assistance of Asian Development Bank (ADB).

The age-old power plant that was overhauled in 2000 at a cost of Tk 270 million was supplying 35 MW power against the installed capacity of 50 MW.

The government has finally decided to demolish the power plant despite having around 2,000 MW supply shortfall at this time of scorching summer heat, a power division source said. "The government is selling the power plant only for Tk 120 million to set up the new one," the source added.

Nokia Presents Energy Saving Mobile Phones

Nokia 1200, Nokia 1208 and Nokia 1650 are already the world's first mobile phones that allow users to preset the bill before calling to control the budget. Now it says these devices are also the world's first mobile phones that alert people to unplug the charger once the battery is full.

The Finnish vendor claims this feature could save enough electricity to power 85,000 homes a year. "Around two-thirds of the energy used by a mobile phone is lost when it is unplugged after charging but the charger itself is left in a live socket," announced Nokia's Environmental Affairs Vice President Kirsi Sormunen.

Liberalizing Country's Electricity Market

The Power Division has started to seek opinions from the state-owned power sector entities, including the Power Development Board, as it continues its push for liberalizing the country's electricity market, traditionally characterized by a single buyer model.

Under the new concept, the energy sector regulator will allow captive power generators to use the national grid, now monopolized by the Power Development Board (PDB), with a view to 'wheeling' electricity to other industrial units.

In turn, the captive power operators will foot wheeling fees to the PDB, the grid operator, and the Power Grid Company of Bangladesh (PGCB), the transmission network operator.

"We're working on the proposal … And we've sent the proposal of Captive Power Wheeling to the agencies concerned for their opinions," an official at the Power Division said.

4 Power Projects Approved

A high-powered committee of experts on the power sector gave the go-ahead signal to four power projects including the 450 MW Meghnaghat-2 and 150 MW Chandpur power plants, and also to one of the seven ‘rental power plants’ as no ‘major faults’ were detected in the tenders and other procedures.

One of the committee members, Major General Abdul Wadud, commandant of the Military Institute of Science and Technology, handed over the review report on five projects to Energy Advisor Tapan Chowdhury at his secretariat office.

The six-member committee, headed by Dr Abdul Matin Patwari, Vice Chancellor of the University of Asia Pacific and former VC of BUET, found minor faults but no major ones to justify the ditching of the projects, Tapan told reporters after getting the report.

The other projects that were approved include the rehabilitation and modernization of the 50 MW third unit of the Karnaphuli hydropower plant and two units of the Ghorashal power plant.

The committee also approved one of the seven rental power projects and suggested re-tenders for the rest.

Tata Decides to Wait Until Next Polls

Far from abandoning its US$ three billion investment plan in Bangladesh, the Tata Group said it would pursue the steel, power and
fertilizer projects after polls to elect a new government.

"We have not abandoned the project. We have spent money which means we are serious about Bangladesh," Tata Sons' Executive Director R. Gopalakrishnan told the PTI news agency.

"We had developed the project with serious intent. If we were not serious, then we would not have made a proposal...we have even posted our people there (Bangladesh)," he said.

Tata's investment plans, first submitted in 2005, never took off owing to delay in clearances and government's reluctance to offer various concessions.

"We are ready with our plans but a matching readiness in Bangladesh... must also be there," Gopalakrishnan said.

Describing the group's plan as "long-term investments", he said there may be a few delays here and there. "Some projects get delayed, some aborted, while some go through with a little delay."

The Tatas' plan for setting up a steel, fertilizer and a 1,000 MW gas-based power plant in Bangladesh would mark the single largest foreign investment in Bangladesh.

Demand for Fuel Oils may Grow by 8.1%

The country's overall demand for petroleum products will grow by 8.1 per cent in the next fiscal, said a report of the Energy Division.

The higher growth of demand will raise oil import bills by Tk 15.09 billion in the next fiscal. The current year's oil import bills will likely to reach Tk 186.13 billion.

Citing the import price of per tonne of fuel oil in February, the report said the state-owned Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation will need Tk 201.21 billion to foot the import bills of 3.57 million tonnes in fiscal 2007-08.

For the current fiscal, the government fixed the import target at 3.3 million tonnes of petroleum products.

The report said the BPC's loss is expected to fall to Tk 300 million annually due to price hike of petroleum products by 15 to 21 per cent in the local market and increased use of compressed natural gas, instead of fuel oil in the vehicles.

The BPC's loss was estimated at Tk 27 billion before the recent price hike of the petroleum products.

The growth of demand for diesel and kerosene, whose consumptions are estimated at 85 per cent of total petroleum products, will grow by 8.4 per cent 5.7 per cent in the next fiscal.

The country is projected to consume 2.53 million tonnes of diesel and 0.52 million tones of kerosene in the current fiscal. The requirement of diesel and kerosene for the next fiscal, according to the report, will be 2.75 million tonnes and 0.55 million tonnes respectively.

8-member Body to Review Local Fuel Prices

The government has formed an eight-member high-powered committee to monitor the price fluctuation of fuel in the international market and place recommendations for revising the local fuel prices.

The committee members include senior officials of ministries of finance, commerce, communications, agriculture, industry, power and energy. The chairman of Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) is the convener of the committee.

Earlier, the BPC used to place such recommendations for revision of fuel prices.

Bangladesh Calls for Cooperation with India, Nepal

In the wake of an endemic power shortage, Bangladesh has placed formal offer with India and Nepal to have access to hydroelectric potential in the two neighboring nations.

Energy and Power Advisor Tapan Chowdhury disclosed the move. Dhaka is awaiting response from the two neighbors, he said. "We are waiting for the official response from New Delhi and Kathmandu," he told reporters.

Chowdhury said that soon after his return from SAARC (the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) Energy Ministers' conference in New Delhi in March, he formally wrote to his counterparts in India and Nepal about Bangladesh's interest in having access to their reserve of hydroelectricity.

He said the proposal was sent in line with the discussion on regional cooperation in SAARC Energy Ministers' conference.

Tapan Chowdhury Stresses Alternative Energy

Bangladesh could weigh the use of atomic energy to generate electricity, which is a logical and viable option, Energy Adviser Tapan Chowdhury said.

He said Bangladesh should immediately start looking for alternative energy sources to reduce dependence on fossil fuels—coal and gas.

He threw the idea at the launch of the two-day annual conference of Bangladesh Physical Society (BPS) at Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology auditorium.

Presiding over the session, BPS president CS Karim reiterated the need for continued research in science and technology to ensure overall sustainable development.

The conference, participated by over 200 delegates, saw a number of research presentations and discussions.