Integrated Planning May Transform Power Supply To Comfortable State By 2030

The installed power generation capacity is almost double the demand.

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Consequently, the sector is under severe financial stress due to paying huge unnecessary capacity charges. There is no magic formula for an instant solution to this menace. Increasing the contribution of grid-connected renewables in a planned manner, optimum utilization of coal-based power plants, planned phasing out of liquid fuel-based power generation, planned load-shedding and more efficient demand-side management are the ways to go for transforming the power supply situation to a comfortable level by 2030. Besides, the huge power reserve margin must be reduced to a manageable proportion to relieve financial stress on the power sector. Former Dean of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) Professor Dr. Ijaz Hossain said this in an exclusive interview with Mollah Amzad Hossain, Editor of Energy & Power.

The installed capacity of grid-connected electricity generation is 28,089MW. Available data and information evidenced that the average daily demand is 14,000MW. How has the huge reserve margin created challenges for the sector?

Almost double the reserve margin is the consequence of flawed planning. This is indeed a voluptuousness for Bangladesh. 18,000MW could be the appropriate capacity against an average demand of 14,000MW. Considering 17,000MW as summer peak demand this could be 20,000MW capacity. In 2015-16 when it was observed that demand was not growing at a projected rate, the generation increase could have been downsized by 4,000MW. If we consider the average demand for summer and winter, it is 12,000MW now. A planned load-shedding instead of going for a huge increase in generation could be the right strategy. But that was not done.