UNB, Dhaka :
A move is underway to prepare a fresh power system master plan (PSMP) for the next 10-20 years with the focus on using imported coal instead of local one for power generation.
Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) supports the move with its financial and technical assistance as part of its greater theme to create a Bay of Bengal Industrial Growth Belt (BIG-B).
The current PSMP was also prepared with JICA’s help in 2005 with the 2010 timeline focussing on the use of local natural gas and local coal as primary sources of fuel for power generation.
But the focus of the new PSMP 2015 is going to be on imported coal because of a changed scenario in the local natural resources in gas and coal reserve. “The depleting gas reserve has prompted the policymakers to choose the imported coal as primary
source of fuel for energy,” said a top official at the Power Division.
He referred to a Power Division document which says, “…the existing gas-based power plants cannot be operated due to the shortage of adequate gas pressure, and gas reserve is alarmingly depleting”.
To cope with the changed scenario and the government’s vision 2021, which envisions to provide electricity to all by 2021, the document also mentions that the PSMP has been undertaken considering coal as dominant primary fuel for the attainment of stable power supply up to the year 2030.”
A move is underway to prepare a fresh power system master plan (PSMP) for the next 10-20 years with the focus on using imported coal instead of local one for power generation.
Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) supports the move with its financial and technical assistance as part of its greater theme to create a Bay of Bengal Industrial Growth Belt (BIG-B).
The current PSMP was also prepared with JICA’s help in 2005 with the 2010 timeline focussing on the use of local natural gas and local coal as primary sources of fuel for power generation.
But the focus of the new PSMP 2015 is going to be on imported coal because of a changed scenario in the local natural resources in gas and coal reserve. “The depleting gas reserve has prompted the policymakers to choose the imported coal as primary
source of fuel for energy,” said a top official at the Power Division.
He referred to a Power Division document which says, “…the existing gas-based power plants cannot be operated due to the shortage of adequate gas pressure, and gas reserve is alarmingly depleting”.
To cope with the changed scenario and the government’s vision 2021, which envisions to provide electricity to all by 2021, the document also mentions that the PSMP has been undertaken considering coal as dominant primary fuel for the attainment of stable power supply up to the year 2030.”
