Coal shortage again halts power production at Rampal plant

Electricity production at Rampal Thermal Power Plant in Bagerhat has been halted once again due to shortage of coal.

Anwarul Azim, deputy general manager of Bangladesh-India Friendship Power Company Ltd (BIFPCL), said power generation has remained suspended in the plant since Sunday night.

"Measures have been taken to import coal. Power generation will resume once coal is imported," he added.

Earlier, power generation from Rampal Thermal Power Plant was stopped on 14 January this year due to coal shortage – only 29 days after the first unit of the plant went into commercial production.

The authorities resumed their operation after coal supply returned to normal one month later.

On April 15, power generation at the mega project was stopped once again due to mechanical failure. The plant became operational after three days.

The coal-fired Rampal Power Plant started commercial production in December last year, adding 660MW of electricity to the national grid from its first unit.

Initially, a decision was taken to purchase 80 lakh tonnes of coal under a long-term contract to keep the power plant operational. So far, 2,67,752 tonnes of coal has been imported from Indonesia for the power plant.