Thirty-four gas-based power plants, whichare being built in the public and private sectors and scheduled to start productionby 2016, are likely to face primary fuel shortages due to lack of adequate gas supply,Power Development Board (PDB)officials said.
The new plants, with a total capacity of 5,372MW(megawatt), would require about 1,100mmcfd (million cubic feet per day) of gas for producing electricity.
Experts warned that the rate at which Petrobangla, the state-run oil, gas and mineral corporation, is exploring for newwells, it will not be able to meet the demandsof the power plants.
Unless fresh gas reserves are found and developed quickly, the new plants would not be able to go into production. Moreover, the plants will have to depend on imported diesel and furnace oil, which will increase production costs.
At present, PDB buys a unit of electricity from a gas-based plant for less than Tk2, whereas per unit cost from a plant run on diesel or furnace oil isTk14-Tk17.
Meanwhile, a Petrobangla official claimed thatthe PDB had signed contracts for the power projects without giving any assurances of gas supply.
The country has been facing gas shortagesfor the past five years, and the crisis is likely to continue as demand far exceeds supply.
Against a daily demand of 2,750mmcfd, Petrobangla is now able to supply 2,300mmcfd of gas, leaving a shortfall of 450mmcfd.
Despite adding500mmcfd to the national grid during the period,Petrobanglahas failed to increase gas supply to cope with soaring demands, experts said.
Gas production lags behind target due to delays in drilling exploration wells and developing them. Also, no major gas reserves have been found in recent times.
“The gas demand is too high for us to meet, as our resources are limited. Drilling for gas wells is a lengthy task. If we find any problem while drilling, it takes more time to solve,” Petrobangla Chairman Hossain Monsursaid.
PDB Chairman Md Abdul WahabKhan said if Petrobanglafails to ensure gas supply, the newly-built power plantswill lie idle, incurring huge losses. Generally, a 100MWcapacity power plant requires Tk8bn-Tk9bn to construct.
Talking to the Dhaka Tribune, Ijaz Hossain, a professor at Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, said: “Petrobangla failed to take any good initiative in the last five years, and we are not getting any proof that it would be able to offer anything better in the next three years to bring changes in the gas sector.”
“The electricity bill will not be minimised if we fail to build gas or coal-based power plants,” he added.