Siddhirganj power plant to be overhauled after repeated breakdown

The decision has been made due to recurring breakdown of the plant that had severely hampered uninterrupted power generation and supply. At a meeting yesterday, the cabinet committee on public purchase yesterday approved the power ministry’s proposal to overhaul the plant. Industries Minister Amir Hossain Amu presided over the meeting. “The cabinet committee on public purchase has given its consent to overhaul the Siddhirganj Power Plant,” said Additional Secretary Mostafizur Rahman after the meeting. The cost of overhauling the plant has been estimated at over Tk372 million, said a high official of the Power Division. Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB), through an international tender bidding, selected Consortium of LLC Inter Rao Engineering and LLC-MC-IED Holding for overhauling the plant. “The overhauling of SPP will be done through turn-key basis,” the official said. According to the proposal, the breakdown in “bus bar conductor” and “stator winding” of generator numbers 8, 11 and 16 were later repaired locally. The power plant used local expertise to repair the second-time breakdown. The 210-megawatt Siddhirganj Power Plant has been running on commercial basis since its commissioning on September 3, 2014. The experts suggested running of the power plant with derated loads (100-120 MW) after recurrence of the breakdown, according to the Power Division. The Siddhirganj plant exceeded 70,978 running hours until March 30, 2016. But experts say boiler, turbine, generator, auto control and other equipment of the power plant need urgent overhauling when the running hours of the plant reach 50,000. The BPDB in its meeting on November 19, 2013 decided on overhauling of the plant. The country is now generating over 8,000 MW of power daily, according to official sources.