Energy & Power

Snapshots

Producing Biofuel Threat to Food Security

Producing biofuel from plants and foodgrains will be a threat to food security as well as the environment, environmentalists and biodiversity experts told a discussion titled 'Biofuel: Threat to environment and food production.' Ubinig, an NGO, arranged the discussion at the National Press Club in the city.

Shalini Bhutani of India said in the face of global energy crisis, many countries of America, Europe and Asia are producing fuel from grains and plants. Such efforts by the giant companies are going to bring disastrous effects on human life, as there is already a shortage of arable land and food crops, she said.

Shalini, coordinator of Delhi office of GRAIN, an international NGO working on biodiversity, said biofuel is most commonly used for transportation and heating replacing oil. Ethanol, butanol, methanol, biodiesel are various types of agrofuel that are produced from corn and soybean in the USA, wheat, rapeseed, sugar beet in Europe, sugar cane in Brazil, palm oil in South East Asia, coconut oil in the Philippines and jatropha, pongemia and sugar beet in India, she noted.

"Interestingly, a few giant multinational companies that control the energy markets will also dominate the food grains or plants for producing biofuel. Thus, food prices will be hiked due to shortage of food," Shalini said. Such technology will only contribute to setting up of more industries and usages of automobile that will emit more green house gas, she added.

"Current push to expand the use of biofuel is creating tensions that will disrupt markets without generating significant environmental benefits," Shalini said quoting from a summit of Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

Ubinig Executive Director Farida Akhter said they got to know that a Japanese firm Honda Denki Co has expressed its interest to invest $1 billion in biofuel and sugar sector, and Bangladesh was quite happy to the offer. "Such kind of investment must not be accepted without analysing the consequences," she said, adding that food grains that are used for human being must not be allowed to be used for fuel that in turn is destroying the environment of the earth.

Ubinig Managing Director Farhad Mazhar said people in the developing countries would be the worst victims at the cost of biofuel production.

Foreign Firms to be Invited to Explore Gas Reserves

Bangladesh plans to invite foreign firms to explore for offshore gas reserves to meet the soaring demand for energy to sustain the nation's rapidly-growing economy. The offshore bidding to explore for gas in the Bay of Bengal will open by the year end. It will be the third offshore bidding in the history of the impoverished nation, which has extensive gas reserves.

"Both India and Myanmar have found gas in the Bay of Bengal and we're confident there will also be major discoveries in the Bangladesh part of the bay," said Energy Division Secretary AMM Nasir Uddin.

Bangladesh needs to urgently locate new sources of energy. The government forecasts that the nation's current gas reserves will run out by 2014-15 at the present rate of consumption.

Nasir said the country needs at least 7.7 billion dollars' investment in gas exploration and development to sustain the projected annual economic growth of seven percent until 2025.

Set up Coal Fired Power Plants in Northern Districts

Speakers in a seminar in Rangpur suggested extraction of coal from northern region mines and setting up coal-based power plants to meet the need.

The seminar was organized jointly by Rangpur Chamber of Commerce and Industry (RCCI) and Greater Rangpur Welfare Samiti, Dhaka. It was held at RCCI conference room.

They urged the government not to pay heed to those who are obstructing extraction of coal from the region.

RCCI President Mostafa Azad Choudhury presided over the seminar while President of Greater Rangpur Welfare Samiti and also former National Board of Revenue (NBR) Executive Chairman Nazrul Islam moderated it.

Four keynote papers on 'Development of Greater Rangpur and Northern Region: Problems and Potentiality' were presented at the seminar.

Former Chairman of Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation and former Chief Engineer of Local Government Engineering Department Monwar Hosen suggested in the seminar that the government should set up two urea fertilizer plants in Rangpur or any other places in northern region.

Former Chairman of Bangladesh Power Development Board Brig Gen (Retd) MA Malek and Vice President of Greater Rangpur Welfare Samiti M A Mazid addressed among others in the seminar.

Petrobangla, BCMCL, CMC Sign Deal on Barapukuria Mine

Petrobangla, Barapukuria Coal Mining Company Limited and a Chinese Consortium led by CMC have signed a side letter agreement on completion of development work of Barapukuria coal mine.

The side letter agreement was signed so that the consortium finishes incomplete development work of the mine as per the original development agreement signed in 1994, Petrobangla officials said.

When the consortium will complete the development work, BCMCL, a subsidiary of Petrobangla, will issue takeover certificate to the consortium.

The consortium was also given a six-year service contract for producing coal from the field in 2005. But it failed to produce coal as per the contract.

A Petrobangla release said the visiting President of CMC, Tang, assured the government that the consortium would take ‘all out efforts’ to recover the closed section (1100) of the coal mine which was shut for the second time because of emission of carbon monoxide.

The CMC will purchase a new set of equipment to produce coal as equipment worth millions has remained abandoned at the closed compartment. Petrobangla requested CMC not to charge BCMCL for the equipment.

Easy Access to Energy Key to Achieving MDGs

Although energy is not an explicit target of the millennium development goals (MDGs), it may not be possible to attain all the goals without easy access to energy, speakers at a workshop in Dhaka observed.

Energy is necessary to help achieve the MDGs, they added at the workshop titled 'Energy for Millennium Development Goals'. United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in cooperation with Power Division of Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources organized the workshop, which was moderated by UNDP Deputy Country Director Larry Maramis.

Energy facilitates the achievement of the MDGs, said Abul Barkat, professor of economics at Dhaka University. Failure to include energy considerations in the development philosophy of the MDGs will severely limit the ability to achieve the goals, Barkat said presenting a keynote paper on 'Energy for MDGs: Challenges and Doable'.

BD Rahmatullah, Director of Rural Electrification Board, said energy is essential for development of productive activities in rural areas to raise the income of the poorest.

Power Secretary M Fouzul Kabir Khan said time has come to look for alternative energy sources such as renewable energy.

Gas Supply Line in Karnaphuli Catches Fire

Gas from an underwater supply line burns on the surface of the Karnaphuli near Kalurghat Bridge in Chittagong on September 10 night. The fire broke out in the supply line of Bakharabad Gas Systems Ltd (BGSL) under the river.

Police and BGSL sources could not confirm if there was an explosion or a leakage caused the fire that started around 9:00pm.

Firefighters as well as authorities concerned of BGSL rushed to douse the fire immediately after it broke out, but no one could get near the blaze. The fire was visible from kilometres away.

Witnesses claimed flames were seen coming out of the water halfway across the river.

BGSL sources said they switched off the underwater supply line. It took several hours to completely douse the fire. The fire incident and subsequently suspension of gas supply caused disruption in power generation and production in many industrial units.

Siemens Wins Tk 58 Crore Project in Khulna

Siemens Consortium Gallamari Project, a joint venture between Siemens AG, Germany, and Siemens Bangladesh Ltd, recently entered into an agreement with Power Grid Company of Bangladesh (PGCB).

Under the deal, Siemens will construct a Tk 57.6 crore power project in Khulna. Mohammed Salim, Company Secretary of PGCB, Hubertus Boesten, Director of Power Division of Siemens Bangladesh, and Ursula Wolf, Commercial Project Manager of High Voltage Substations of Siemens AG, signed the deal.

In this regard, SCGP has signed a contract with Power Grid Company of Bangladesh (PGCB) last month.

Under the deal, SCGP will design, supply and install 132/33 kV Gas Insulated Switchgear (GIS) substation at Gallmari in Khulna with associated transmission line and extension of the existing 230/132 kV Khulna South Substation on turnkey basis, says a press release.

Toxic Gas Leak Leads to Partial Shutdown of Barapukuria

Emission of serious toxic carbon monoxide (CO) gas has forced the Barapukuria Coal Mining Company Ltd (BCMCL) in Dinajpur to reseal recently a mining area that was only reopened two weeks ago after being closed for nearly two years.

As a result, the target coal production of the mine has once again dropped to half. Consequently, the mine will once again fail to provide enough coal to run the Barapukuria 250MW coal-fired power plant adjacent to the mine site.

The daily coal production target of the mine is 3,000 metric tons (mt), of which the power plant requires about 2,400mt.

A set of mining equipment worth $ 5.5 million has also been stuck inside the 1,100 feet deep sealed area of Phase 1110, a competent source at the BCML said. The mine will continue to produce coal from another phase using another set of equipment.

Warid Signs One Point Payment Deal with DESA

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Warid Telecom Muneer Farooqui and Secretary of DESA Md Rafiul Alam sign an agreement on single point payment of monthly electric bills of Warid's base stations at a function in Dhaka.

Chairman of DESA Brig Gen Md Nazrul Hasan, Country Head of Bank Al Falah Ltd Majedur Rahman, CFO of Warid Telecom Amyn Merchant were also present.

Under the deal, DESA will provide a one-stop solution for electric bills of all installations of Warid Telecom across Dhaka. Warid will pay all the bills in a single payment through Abu Dhabi Group's sister concern Bank Al Falah Limited.

Formulate integrated energy policy

Speakers at a seminar called on the government to formulate an integrated energy policy considering all aspects, instead of formulating a separate coal policy. The caretaker government should review all energy-related deals with multinational companies and identify those who signed the deals in their own interest, they said.

They also criticized the Law Ministry for its explanation that the Phulbari contract signed between the four-party alliance government and the National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources, Electricity and Port following the mass movement against open-pit mining in August last year has no legal basis.

Bangladesh Paribesh Andolon (Bapa) organized the seminar on 'Presentation of the outline of pro-people and environment-friendly integrated energy strategy paper' at the auditorium of Dhaka Reporters' Unity.

Presenting a keynote paper at the seminar, Zakir Hossain of BAPA suggested using mineral resources to meet the domestic energy needs, instead of exporting them.

Prof Anu Muhammad said that if the government fails to formulate an appropriate energy policy, the multinational companies would take advantage of it to devour mineral resources.

Prof Nurul Islam said the government should take steps to ensure sustainable use of mineral resources.

Prof Abu Ahmed, Prof Dr Shamsul Alam and Sheikh Mohammad Shahidullah also spoke at the seminar presided over by Prof M Feroze Ahmed.

IDB to Provide $ 9.2m for 3 Sectors

The Islamic Development Bank (IDB) will provide $ 9.2 million for the development of agriculture, rural infrastructure and the power sector in Bangladesh.

Three agreements were signed between the government and the IDB following a meeting between Finance Advisor AB Mirza Azizul Islam and visiting IDB President Ahmed Mohamed Ali at Sher-e-Bangla Nagar in the capital.

Secretary of the Economic Relations Division (ERD) Mohammad Aminul Islam Bhuiyan and the IDB President signed the agreements on behalf of their respective sides. The finance adviser was present.

Of the amount, $8.686 million will be spent for implementation of the greater Rangpur Agricultural and Rural Development project, $ 0.295 million for carrying out feasibility study on Bhola 150MW Combined Cycle Power Plant and Barisal-Bhola-Borhanuddin 132KV transmission line project and $ 0.218 million for feasibility study on the Eastern Refinery project.

Earlier, the Advisor and the IDB President discussed the bank's cooperation in areas like agriculture, education, health, rural infrastructure and power.

Energy Ministry to go All-out to Explore Gas

The Energy Ministry has taken up a crash program to increase the gas supply in the Chittagong region, as it has been badly suffering for last six months due to gas transmission constraints and declining trend of production at Sangu gas field.

Under this program, the Energy Ministry plans to explore all potential of BAPEX, the lone exploration company in public sector, giving it enormous financial support to explore Samutang, Begumganj, Shahbajpur, Srikail, Sundarpur, Kapashia, Meghna gas fields along with the ongoing activity of international oil companies.

"Though it will take at least six months to materialize the program, finally it will give some relief to the people of the Chittagong region, it will play a vital role in producing electricity in the region", AMM Nasiruddin, Energy Secretary, told a press briefing.

The Energy Ministry held the briefing at its board room where Tapan Chowdhury, the Advisor for the line ministry, the Petrobangla Chairman, the Managing Director of Bakharabad and top officials of the ministry were present.

Approval Sought to Develop Begumganj Field

The Energy Division has sought the Finance Ministry’s approval for developing the Begumganj gas field by a joint venture of three state-run gas companies with an initial investment of around Tk225 crore from the companies’ own coffers.

The division sent the proposal of the three Petrobangla subsidiaries — Bangladesh Petroleum Exploration and Production Company Ltd, Bangladesh Gas Fields Company Ltd, and Sylhet Gas Fields Company Ltd — to the finance ministry last week.

“We are hoping to get soon the Finance Ministry’s approval of the joint-venture proposal for developing the Begumganj field. Once the companies get the nod, they initially will drill a production well at the field and set up a gas processing plant,” said Energy Secretary AMM Nasir Uddin.