Aggreko to run its power plant on gas
Deal signed on conversion
The government yesterday signed an amendment of an existing contract with a British rental power company Aggreko to convert its 145-megawatt diesel-fired power plant into a gas-fired one.
This conversion would help the government save around Tk 1,100 crore to 1,200 crore a year by not importing diesel for the plant at Ghorashal that started operation in August, 2010.
Although there is severe gas crisis, the Power Development Board (PDB) is getting 30 to 34 million cubic feet of gas per day for Aggreko from its reserved allocation.
Sources said, the PDB has several gas-based power plants in Ghorashal, but some of them have gone out of order in recent years. The gas allocated for these plants remains unutilised.
As the PDB was facing severe financial pressure by importing diesel, it had asked Aggreko last year whether it could convert its diesel-based plant into a gas-fired one. The company agreed and started conversion works accordingly.
“As of today, Aggreko has already converted one part of the plant and is generating 45 MW of power using natural gas,” said an official.
“We hope, the full conversion will be completed by the end of February,” the official added.
Yesterday, PDB and Aggreko officials signed the amendment. As per the amendment, the power tariff -- minus the fuel cost -- remains the same at Tk 4.80 per kilowatt-hour. The contract will expire on August 2013.
Aggreko runs several rental power plants generating 395 MW of electricity in total. Of this, 150 MW is being produced from gas.
The government opted for diesel and heavy fuel oil-fired rental plants from 2007 due to severe power shortage and gas crisis.
The installation and dismantling process of rental plants are ideally easy while they charge a bit higher for power generation.
Other than Aggreko, three other local companies are generating 200 MW of power using natural gas.
Due to the operation of fuel-based rental plants, the government's fuel oil import has doubled in 2011 -- putting heavy pressure on the economy.
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