Bangladesh, with its 152 million people in a land mass of 147,570 sq.

km, has shown tremendous

growth in recent years. A booming economic growth, rapid urbanization and increased industrialization
and development has increased the country's demand for electricity. Presently, 62% of the total
population (including renewable energy) has access to electricity and per capita generation is 321 kWH,
which is very low compared to other developing countries. A details about countries power production
sectors are discussed below

THE STRUCTURE OF POWER SECTOR OF BANGLADESH:

Apex Institution
Power Division, Ministry of Power, Energy & Mineral Resources (MPEMR)
Regulator
Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC)
Generation
Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB)
Ashuganj Power Station Company Ltd. (APSCL)
Electricity Generation Company of Bangladesh (EGCB)
North West Power Generation Company Ltd. (NWPGCL)
Independent Power Producers (IPPs)
Transmission
Power Grid Company of Bangladesh Ltd (PGCB)
Distribution
Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB)
Dhaka Power Distribution Company (DPDC)
Dhaka Electric Supply Company Ltd (DESCO)
West Zone Power Distribution Company (WZPDC)
Rural Electrification Board (REB) through Rural Co-operatives

GENERATION CAPACITY OF POWER PLANTS AS OF JUNE (MW)

Particulars
Year 2011-12 Year 2012-13
a) Public sector
i) BPDB
3,437
3,700
ii) APSCL
682
682
iii) EGCB
210
210
iv) RPCL
0
77
v) NWPGCL
0
150
b) Private Sector
i) IPP/SIPP
1,396
1,396
ii) Rental
2,149
2,096
c) REB (for PBSs only)
226
226
d)
System
Total
Generation
8,100
8,537
Capacity (MW)

GENERATION CAPACITY BY PLANT AND FUEL

% Change over the previous year

7.65
0.00
0.00

0.00
-2.47
0.00
5.40

By type of Plant
Steam Turbine
Gas Turbine
Combined Cycle
Reciprocating Engine
Hydro
Total

2193 MW (25.69%)
1295 MW (15.17%)
1455 MW (17.04%)
3374 MW (39.52%)
220 MW (2.58%)
8,537MW

By type of fuel
Gas
Furnace Oil
Diesel
Hydro
Coal
Total

5730 MW (67.12%)
1876 MW (21.97%)
511 MW (5.99%)
220 MW (2.58%)
200 MW (2.34%)
8,537MW

RENEWABLE ENERGY
Development of renewable energy is one of the important strategies for going green. Under the
existing generation scenario of Bangladesh, renewable energy has a very small share to the total
generation. The present share of renewable energy is about 0.5%.
SOLAR POWER PROJECT
BPDB has taken steps to install 8 MW PV power plant at Kaptai Hydro Power station.
1 MW solar PV power plant (off grid solar-wind- diesel based hybrid system) in Hatiya Island,
Noakhali.
650 KWp (400 kW load) solar mini grid power plant at remote haor area of Sulla upazila at Sunamgonj
district under climate change trust fund (CCTF).
3 MW grid connected solar PV power plant at Sharishabari, Jamalpur on Build, Own & Operate basis.
1000 KM of street lighting based on solar PV and LED based technology in seven (7) city corporations
of the country.
WIND POWER PROJECT
The potential of wind energy is limited to coastal areas, off-shore islands, rivers sides and other
inland open areas with strong wind regime. In order to generate electricity from wind energy, BPDB
installed 4x225 kW = 900 kW capacity grid connected wind turbine at Muhuri dam area of Sonagazi in
Feni. Another project of 1000 kW wind battery hybrid power plant at Kutubdia Island was completed
in 2008 which consists of 50 wind turbines of 20kW capacity each. Ongoing wind Projects El BPDB has
taken steps to install 1MW wind power plant (off grid solar-wind- diesel based hybrid system) in
Hatiya Island, Noakhali.
BPDB is also going to install 15 MW wind power plant across the coastal regions of Bangladesh
pursuant to wind resources assessment at Muhuri dam area of Feni, Mognamaghat of Cox's Bazar,
parky beach of Anwara in Chittagong, Kepupara and Kuakata of Patuakhali. Installation of wind
masts has already been started at "7 no Char" of Muhuri Dam area at Feni and "Sattar Majhir Ghat" area
of Mognamaghat in Cox's Bazar.
NUCLEAR POWER PLANT
Bangladesh plans to set up 1,000MW power plant, the Ruppur Nuclear Power Plant at Ruppur,
Pabna district 200km (120mi) northwest of the capital Dhaka by 2018.

Problems in Power Sectors of Bangladesh

Corruption: Corruption is number one problem in power sector of Bangladesh. Dishonest officials and
employees of Power Development Board and similar agencies are swindling around Tk1000crore
annually from the power and energy sector under the cover of system loss and using false vouchers
against payment of utility bills.
High system loss:
Type of Fault

Total Number of
Faults
85

Duration
(Hours:Minutes)
06:44

Partial Power failure due to trouble in grid S/S Equipment

Partial Power failure due to fault in transmission line
Partial Power failure due to the lightning on transmission
line/Thunder Storm

04
00
01

04:53
0:00
02:42

Partial Grid failure

01

00:13

Total Grid failure

Total

00
91

0:00
14:32

Partial Power failure due to trouble in generation

Fuel crisis:
Reduced supply from Sangu Gas field
Low gas pressure during winter
Gas shortage for power generation due to
- Demand exceeding gas production
- Gas transmission bottleneck in some areas
High Cost of Imported fuel Oil
High Gas dependence: The Shortage of available gas supply creates a struggling situation of electricity
generation. Still, 83 percent of the total electricity used to be generated by natural gas. Many power
plants are idle due to the shortage of gas supply.
Highly inefficient decision making process
Procurement process is not conducive
Lack of participation of professionals in decision making
Absence of autonomy in the power sector entities
Unplanned reform initiatives destroyed overall co-ordination
Absence of good governance in the newly created entities.
Low Efficiency: The overall thermal efficiency (Net) of the public sector power plant in FY 2013 was
33% and then that of previous year was 32% efficient. This low efficiency leads to low power
generation.