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Dhaka Thursday,  Mar 28, 2024

Barapukuria power plant to run 5 days

EB Desk / Daily Star

Second unit of Barapukuria 525MW Coal Fired power plant is going to be restarted from today for five days after almost a month to support the increase power demand during Eid-ul-Azha in eight northern districts of Dinajpur and Rangpur regions.

Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) is operating the plant in Parbatipur upazila.

Power generation of the plant was shut down on July 22 after 1.45 lakh tonnes of coal disappeared from the stockyard of Barapukuria Coal Mining Company Ltd (BCMCL), a company of Petrobangla.

The market value of the missing coal is Tk 230 crore.

The power plant has three separate units. Of them, two units are capable of generating 150MW power separately (250MW total) while another unit is able to produce 275MW power. The plants jointly had been supplying 380MW power on average to national grid before it was shut down.

Abdul Hakim Sarkar, chief engineer of the plant, said PDB high officials wanted to restart power generation from the second unit Barapukuria Coal Fired power plant to supply more power to national grid to meet the increasing demand during this festival vacation in eight northern districts of Dinajpur and Rangpur regions. The second unit is capable of generating 125MW power, he said.

“We are taking preparation to restart the second unit,” said the engineer.

He further said they have around 5,000 metric tonnes of coal at the stockyard, supplied by BCMCL. With the coal, it is possible to operate the plant for five days highest. The generation will be continued if PDB gets more coal supply from the BCMCL meantime, he said.

The plant will be shut down if the existing coal is burnt, he said.

Besides adding additional power supply to national grid, the plant will help to adjust the prevailing voltage and fluctuation across the regions, which is now a top cause of public suffering.

Coal production of BCMCL remained suspended since June 16 as coal at the existing pocket is exhausted. The company is developing another coal pocket and will need 40 days more to resume coal production.

If everything goes properly, coal production from the fresh pocket may resume by the end of September or early October this year, according to the BCMCL officials.

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