Rampal Power Plant: First unit all set to start commercial production

One of the two units of the coal-fired Rampal Power Plant has started supplying electricity to the national grid on a trial basis.

The unit is ready to go into commercial production, Bangladesh Power Development Board spokesperson Shameem Hasan told The Daily Star yesterday.

The first unit of the 1,320MW power plant in Bagerhat is supplying 620-630 megawatt of electricity to the national grid a day through the Mongla-Mawa-Aminbazar power line.

"The authorities are yet to fix the date for starting the commercial operation. A committee comprised of officials of the power ministry, the PDB and Power Grid Company of Bangladesh will inspect the plant and set the date soon," Shameem said.

Talking to this paper, Anwarul Azim, deputy manager of the plant, said the first unit started supplying power to the national grid on a trial basis on Saturday night.

He added that over 79 percent work of the second unit was already completed. If everything goes according to the plan, the work of the unit, having a production capacity of 660MW, would be done soon.

Anwarul hoped that the second unit would start commercial production in June next year.

In 2010, India and Bangladesh jointly initiated the construction of the thermal power plant after forming Bangladesh-India Friendship Power Company (Pvt) Limited. An agreement was signed between Bangladesh Power Development Board and India's NTPC Ltd on January 29, 2012.

On September 6 this year, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi virtually inaugurated the plant's first unit amid protests from environmentalists over possible threats to the Sundarbans, the world's largest mangrove forest.

[Our Bagerhat correspondent contributed to this report.]