An increase of 1082MW of electricity production, enabled by expanded supply at the Bibiyana gas field, has failed to materialise because three new power plants planned for nearby Habiganj are not ready yet.
Test transmissions of the expanded supply of gas have started but none of the planned plants are ready. The three plants, which are in various stages of construction, will require approximately 200 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) of gas.
US-based petrochemical giant Chevron recently completed the Bibiyana gas field expansion project, launched two years ago, aiming to produce an additional 300mmcfd of gas.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is expected to formally inaugurate the expanded supply at Bibiyana gas field tomorrow.
The three power plants were supposed to have been partially ready last year and in full production by this year.
The plants are expected to help improve access to electricity, reliability and ensure quality supply to consumers. The cost of electricity will be slightly reduced.
A local private firm, the Summit Group, was awarded two of the three projects – Bibiyana 1 and Bibiyana 2 – with 341MW capacity each. The two plants were supposed to begin operations by August 2013.
Bibiyana 2 plant is expected to start operations in March next year.
On the other hand, state-owned Power Development Board (PDB) was given the third power plant project, named Bibiyana 3, with a 400MW capacity.
Two years after signing a contract with Summit Group, the government cancelled the award of the Bibiyana 1 project because the company could not collect the necessary funds.
Following the cancellation of the Summit plant, the government decided to construct a plant on the proposed site renaming the project, Bibiyana South.
With an increased planned capacity of 400MW, the combined cycle power plant will be built by the PDB.
The government will finance Bibiyana South using the Energy Development and Maintenance Fund. The fund was created by adding a surcharge to the price of electricity, to be used for the maintenance and development of power sector projects.
On July 7, 2014 the Cabinet Committee on Government Purchase approved a tender proposal for the 400MW gas-fired Bibiyana South combined cycle power plant.
Isolux Ingenieria SA of Spain and Samsung C&T Corporation of South Korea got the job of building Bibiyana South as engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor.
“We hope we will be able to sign the companies as EPC contractors within 15 days,” Md Abdur Rouf, the project director of Bibiyana South, told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.
“After signing the EPC contract, the PDB will appoint an engineer to represent the plant’s owners to oversee the implementation of the project. The construction period for this project is 900 days, including a simple-cycle completion time of 720 days,” he said.
Bibiyana 2 power plant will come into simple-cycle operation from March 2015 and combined-cycle operation 10 months later.
“The construction work of Bibiyana 2 power plant is about to be finished. We had hoped that the prime minister would have been able to inaugurate the power plant by now. But we could not complete it on time. This is our failure,” S M Noor Uddin, chief executive officer of Summit Bibiyana II Power Company Limited (SBIIPCL), said.
“The project, with one GE 9FA gas turbine generator, one heat recovery steam generator from Hangzhou Boiler Group and one steam turbine generator from Harbin Turbine Corporation, has a net capacity of generating 226.6MW electricity on natural gas in simple-cycle operation and 341MW in combined-cycle operation,” he said.
SBIIPCL, a company with 80 percent ownership by Summit Industrial and Mercantile Corporation (Pvt) Limited and 20 per cent by General Electric, LLC (GE), was selected by PDB to set up the project based on a competitive tendering process.
The project is being executed by SBIIPCL through a single EPC contract awarded to a consortium of two Chinese contractors – NEPC and CEEC.
Power generated from the project facility will be evacuated through a 400kV overhead line and will be connected to a nearby 400/230kV substation of the Power Grid Company of Bangladesh.
The connecting 10 kilometre gas pipeline of 20-inch diameter from Bibiyana South pad to the receiving and metering station outside the plant boundary will be implemented by the PDB.
On December 26, 2012, the PDB signed a deal with Marubeni Corporation of Japan and Hyundai Engineering & Construction Company of South Korea to build a 400MW-capacity power plant at Bibiyana 3.
PDB has made no progress on the Bibiyana 3 plant in the last two years, because its contractor failed to raise the project finance.
“Marubeni and Hyundai signed the agreement committing to arrange the finance from Japan Bank of International Cooperation (JBIC),” Saiful Islam Khan, project director of Bibiyana 3, told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.
“The JBIC has always said it was ready to provide the finance. But the project was delayed due to problems between Marubeni and Hyundai,” he said.
“We have already sent a proposal to the Cabinet Committee on Government Purchase to allow Marubeni to become the sole contractor in the project because Hyundai has withdrawn its share,” he said.
The committee has not yet approved Marubeni’s proposal to be sole contractor for the project.
“Marubeni has failed completely to secure the funds,” he said.