Power Division has asked the utility agencies to chalk out load shedding management plan immediately as load shedding would be back after the Eid-Ul_Fitr. “We need to produce fertiliser to support the Agriculture Ministry, thus we should divert gas from the power plant to fertiliser factories,” an energy division official said.
In a bid to support the power sector, the Energy Ministry in July last snapped gas supply to KAFCO and CFUL fertiliser factories along with other three local fertiliser factories.
“Power Development board wants to produce power from Rawzan and Shikalbaha power plants to supply more electricity to the dwellers of the Chittagong areas, so we snapped the gas supply to KAFCO and CFUL during Ramadan, now we will divert this amount of gas to the Urea factories,” the official added.
“The fertiliser factories will get priority now as we need to produce more fertiliser to support government’s irrigation plan,” Power Secretary Mohammad Abul Kalam Azad told The Independent.
The Power Secretary last week sat with the utility agencies and asked them to chalk out a plan in this regard.
As per power sector demands, Petrobangla increased around 70 mmcf gas supplies to the power plants situated at Chittagong zone during Ramadan. It also increased 80-120 mmcf gas to the power sector.
“The average gas supply to the power sector in July 22 was 856.2 mmcf whereas it was 1036.8 mmcf on August 5,” Professor Hossain Monsur, Chairman Petrobangla said.
The increased supply of gas has increased the power generation from 5800 to 6,100 megawatt in Ramadan against an estimated demand of 6,500MW of power.
“To fulfill the target, gas distribution companies shut two state-run fertiliser factories to divert more gas to power generation to increase generation from gas-fired stations as its power is cheaper than that of fuel-oil-fired stations,” power division officials said.
When asked whether Petrobangla would be able to increase gas supply or not, Monsur hoped that the corporation would increase gas supply to around 800-890 mmcf.
“Now we have to revise our plan as irrigation season is set to comeback, so the fertiliser sector would get top priority right at the moment and power sector will get less gas which will increase load shedding,” the Power Secretary said.
Courtesy of The Independent
