Energy Bangla

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Dhaka Tuesday,  Mar 19, 2024

Power outages throughout the country

EB Report

Power plants throughout the country have been failing to generate enough electricity for the past couple of days resulting power outages in all over the country. It’s been raining now and the demand of power is relatively lower yet, the distribution companies are failing to meet the current demand of power, causing severe load-shedding in the country.

It has become somewhat trendy for the recent times, accusing the distribution systems for any power outages. However, sources from Power Development Board (PDB) has informed that, the country’s total capacity  is around 12,780 MW currently but, the power plants are generating only 8,900 MW. So the distribution authorities have nothing much to do with the shortage of demand.

Five of the major power plants of the country are currently partially or fully offline due to maintenance and upgrade. The 210 MW power plant (pp) unit of Ghorashal, 32 MW pp unit of Haripur, 64 MW pp unit of Ashuganj, 105 MW pp unit of Bheramara, 110 MW pp unit of Khulna pp unit is not in operation currently.

The whole country is experiencing huge power outages. Cities like Dhaka and Chittagong is also experiencing load-shedding for at least 2-3 hours daily. The power cut scenario in the rural areas is more frustrating.

Addressing the country’s current power outages, the state minister for power energy and mineral resources Nasrul Hamid alleged the faulty distribution system for the current load-shedding. However, he said the current government is working to solve the faults in the distribution system. It would take 2-3 hours to completely eradicate the issues, said Nasrul Hamid.

Dhaka Power Distribution Company (DPDC) informed that, the electricity demand in Dhaka is 1,300 MW and they are getting 1,200 MW only. Same goes for Desco, they lack 20-30 MW in their demand.

The managing director of West Zone Power Distribution Company Ltd (WZPDCL), Shafiq Uddin said that his zone has a demand of about 550 MW of electricity. WZPDCL also lacks around 20-25 MW of electricity daily resulting power outages in that area, said Shafiq Uddin.

Rural Electrification Board (REB) has the largest number of subscribers and most of its subscribers are facing load-shedding for couple of hours at daily basis. REB’s rapid subscriber growth is making the situation worse.

People from different locations are holding demonstrations against the current load-shedding. Several power outposts were also surrounded by the locals.

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