Country hit by severe load shedding: Several major power plants shut down

Staff Correspondent

The Power Development Board (PDB) has announced that load shedding is being implemented nationwide due to the sudden shutdown of several major power plants.

The PDB announced this information in a press release yesterday.

The notification said that several major power plants have been shut down due to mechanical faults, resulting in nationwide load shedding. The situation is expected to improve in the next two to three days. PDB has sought the cooperation of the countrymen to deal with this temporary situation.

Although a mechanical fault was cited as the cause, it is learned that the generating company has stopped half of the supply to a power plant due to outstanding bills.

People in various areas of the country, including Chittagong and Sylhet, suffered greatly due to power outages.

It is learnt that a 1,320 MW unit located in Rampal, Bagerhat has been shut down due to a mechanical fault. A unit of India’s Adani Power’s power plant in Jharkhand is shut down due to outstanding bills. In addition, a gas-based power plant in Bibiana has stopped production due to a mechanical fault. As a result, there was a power shortage of 1,800 MW yesterday.

Various areas of Chittagong and Sylhet have been without electricity since yesterday afternoon. The suffering of city dwellers has reached its peak due to the intense heat.

PDB Sylhet said that the electricity demand of Sylhet city is more than 40 megawatts. But only 25.30 megawatts are being supplied from the national grid. Of this, 13 megawatts of electricity has been provided at Amberkhana substation, 9 megawatts at Sheikhghat and only 3.3 megawatts at Lakkatura.

Shams-e Arefin, executive engineer of Sales and Distribution Division-2 of the Sylhet Power Development Board, said, “Due to low supply from the national grid, it is not possible to provide electricity as per the demand of the city residents. It is not possible to say for sure how long this will last. However, the situation will be normal if there is adequate supply from the national grid.”

Meanwhile, in a message on Tuesday evening, the Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) said that the situation is temporary and is expected to improve in the next 2-3 days. The message said that several major power plants have suddenly shut down due to mechanical faults, forcing nationwide load shedding.

Investigation revealed that load shedding is occurring in some areas of the country due to the shutdown of one unit each of the three power plants.

According to PDB data, the electricity demand at 9 pm yesterday was 18,853 MW, against which electricity generation was 16,250 MW. Accordingly, load shedding was 1,334 MW. However, PDB claimed that there was no load shedding after peak hours.

However, PDB said that efforts are being made to provide electricity through alternative means. They claim that there was no more load shedding after the evening peak hour.