Power Sector Current Status In Bangladesh [Load Shedding Facts]

Power Sector Current Status In Bangladesh: Why is electricity load shedding not decreasing! In summer, when the people of the country are hungry, there are reports of electricity load shedding from all over the country. There are reports of load shedding day and night. People from different districts of the country are reporting about load shedding from time to time. People have written about load shedding on various social media including Facebook. Loadshedding has been done in 15 rounds in Pabna district.

Power Sector Current Status In Bangladesh

Bangladesh Electricity Development Board has not given any specific information about when the suddenly started load shedding will end. However, Mohammad Hossain, director general of Power Cell, a development research institute of the power department, has announced plans to reduce load shedding. He said, we should not forget the changing world situation.

The state of the energy market after the war in Ukraine and Russia is beyond our control. LNG which used to be available at $5 is now being bought at $35 to $40. Developed countries like Germany, Italy are forced to load shedding.

Bangladesh’s Current Power Generation Capacity

The German government plans to bring load shedding into a system. So that customers can prepare for load shedding in advance. Regarding load shedding fifteen times a day, he said, if load shedding is done for two hours continuously, the food in the fridge may be spoiled. Even being without a fan for a long time is difficult. So the plan is to bring the rules in place without load shedding for more than 30 minutes.

Why Is Load Shedding Happening?

A few years ago there was relatively less load shedding at night. Now there is no electricity even in the middle of the night, due to load shedding for two to three hours at night, and the people are in extreme suffering. Why is this load shedding? Thousands of such questions are circulating in the public mind. Basically, the pattern of the electricity demand of people has changed now. Starting from the peak hour (9 pm) there is a demand for electricity in the morning.

Today’s Load Shedding Schedule (All Division) 2022

12 thousand 236 MW electricity was generated for peak hour on July 4 and 11 thousand 591 electricity at 4 am. A few days ago, the demand for electricity was below 6 to 7 thousand megawatts in the early hours of the night. There would not be a problem if there was gas supply of 1400 mmcfd. A few months ago, over 1,000 MMcfd gas was found. Now it has come down to below 900 mmcfd.

Power Sector Current Status In Bangladesh Details

Because of that, the gas-based power plants are not able to produce electricity according to the demand. Forced to use expensive fuel oil. Still, the government is unable to handle the situation. At 9 pm on July 4, 4 thousand 809 MW from gas-based power plants, 5 thousand 495 MW from oil-based power plants, 797 MW from coal-based power plants, 122 MW from hydro-based power plants, and 1 thousand 13 MW were imported. At that time the demand was around 15 thousand MW.

How Many Megawatts of Electricity are Produced in Bangladesh?

The Chairman of Bangladesh Power Development Board did not give any direct answer about when exactly this problem will be solved. He said we are trying our best to bring back the normal situation. People should be more economical in using electricity. Excess electricity cannot be used.

On the other hand, the Minister of State for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources has been saying for a long time that two complications are waiting for Bangladesh due to the current world situation. Two of these complications are the high cost of the product and the availability of the product. The developing countries of the world are sitting on dollars. They are willing to buy gas at any price. But it is not possible for a country with different incomes like Bangladesh to buy gas at such a price.

Unknown Facts About Power Generation [View Details]

As power generation is disrupted due to a shortage of gas, consumers have to be frugal in power generation. It is possible to generate electricity by using oil to meet the shortage of gas, but the price of oil is also high in the current market. Therefore, electricity generation is not possible by purchasing oil at high price.

Bangladesh’s Current Power Generation Capacity (Including Imports)

Bangladesh has a current (including import) power generation capacity of 21,396 MW. Out of this, 1 thousand 688 megawatts are coal-based, 10 thousand 878 megawatts are gas based, 5 thousand 925 megawatts are based on furnace oil, 1 thousand 286 megawatts are based on diesel, 230 megawatts are from the only hydropower station Kaptai, 1 thousand 160 are imported and 229 megawatts are from solar power. On the night of July 4, less than half that is 4 thousand 809 MW was able to be produced through the use of gas.

According to Petrobangla data, gas supply on July 4 was 2 thousand 735 mmcfd. On that day, only 879 mmcfd was supplied against 2 thousand 252 mmcfd in electricity production, 134 mmcfd against 316 mmcfd in fertilizer production, 87.4 mmcfd in non-grid and 1 thousand 633 mmcfd of gas was supplied to other sectors.

Gas Crisis And Load Shedding In Bangladesh

Many have disagreed about the gas crisis being talked about. They said that about 3 thousand MMcfd of gas is being supplied to the power generation system of Bangladesh. Most of this (23%) is available from domestic gas fields. On the other hand, an average of 800 MMcfd more gas was imported from abroad.

Among the imported LNG under long-term contracts, about 700 Only 100 is imported from sport market. Long-term contract gas prices did not increase, prices increased only in the sport market. Due to which the government has taken a policy decision not to import gas from the sport market. Many people do not want to believe that such terrible load shedding can be caused by importing only 100% less gas.

Power Sector Current Status In Bangladesh And Gas Shortage

Although the capacity of producing 25,500 megawatts of electricity per day has been promoted, the average production is now 12,500 megawatts. There are total six electricity companies supplying electricity in the country. These are Power Development Board (PDB), West Zone Power Distribution Company Limited (Ojopadico), Northern Electricity Supply Company Limited (NESCO), Rural Electrification Board (REB), and Dhaka Power Distribution Company Limited (DPDC), and Dhaka Electricity Power Company Limited. (Desco).

Power Sector Current Status In Bangladesh

The power department has been using the term load shedding for the last few years. They are now lamenting the load shedding. Highlighting the gas and oil supply crisis mainly due to the Ukraine-Russia war, the power minister said that ships are not able to move on the naval route as before. Not only in our country but in almost all countries of the world everything is now in short supply.

The northern districts of Bangladesh are suffering more due to load shedding. Due to excessive load shedding, the service activities are going to be stopped, the industrial plants are almost friends. Factory owners who depend entirely on electricity are suffering greatly.

Gas Shortage Due To War

Due to the war in Ukraine and Russia, the supply of gas has been cut off and the danger is being disrupted by demand. The Minister of State for Power and Energy said that it is not possible to say exactly when this problem will be solved, but it is expected that the gas shortage will be overcome soon and the power generation will be normal. Everyone should be patient in this situation.

Power Sector Current Status In Bangladesh

At the end, at a glance, a picture of the current status of the power sector in Bangladesh is presented. (Source – Power Cell)

Power Generation Capacity (MW)	13,179* (March 2017)
Maximum Power Generation (MWh)	9,212 (18 April 2017)
Number of subscribers	2 crores 42 lakh (March 2017)
Total Transmission Lines (sq.km)	10,377 (February 2017)
Distribution Lines (km)	3 lakh 93 thousand (February 2017)
System Loss	13.10% (June 2016)
Distribution Loss	10.69% (June 2016)
Population with electricity	80%

Except for captive and solar home systems.

Load Shedding Schedule 2022 Rajshahi

Load Shedding Schedule 2022 Dhaka