The country experienced load-shedding of over 1000MW on Wednesday, with 400MW of the total in Dhaka alone.
Officials at state-owned Power Development Board (PDB) said the amount of electricity generated was 8,648MW against countrywide demand of 9700MW on the day, leading to a shortage of some 1052MW.
The shortfall comes despite having installed generation capacity to meet the demand, as operation of a good number of power plants remains suspended for different reasons. The suspended plants could add some 3,331MW of electricity if they were put to work.
Of these, power plants having 2196 MW are undergoing maintenance while plants having production capacity of 939 MW are rendered useless due to gas shortage. Additionally the dwindling level of water in the Kaptai Lake decreased the hydropower plant’s generation there by 196 MW.
As a result, the people in the capital Dhaka and elsewhere had to experience frequent load-shedding on the day.
Mohiuddin Ahmed, chief engineer (operation) of Dhaka Electricity Supply Company (Desco), which controls power distribution in the north-west and eastern parts of Dhaka city, informed UNB that during the day Desco had to resort to 176MW load-shedding while in the evening the load-shedding was 292MW.
During the day, the power supply was 693MW against a demand of 869MW in Desco’s designated zones while in the evening the situation deteriorated further with supply of 624MW against a demand of 918MW.
Harun-or-Rashid, Director (operation) of Dhaka Power Distribution Company, which controls distribution to the south-western and central parts of the capital Dhaka, said his organization could supply 1350MW against a demand for 1490MW during the day time.
In the evening, the supply situation deteriorated further with an increase in demand and decrease in supply, said another DPDC official.
