Prime minister Sheikh Hasina has inaugurated a new peaking power plant at Shikolbaha under Patia Upazila.
The dual-fuel 150MW plant started operations at noon on Wednesday.
The inauguration was attended by primary and mass education minister Afsarul Ameen, state minister for power Enamul Haque, Chittagong Development Authority chief Abdus Salam and top officials of the power division.
After inaugurating the plant's operation, Hasina attended a rally at the CDA field at Shikolbaha.
The peaking plant will feed the national grid during peak hours, which authorities hope will ease power outages in Chittagong.
The plant will initially run on natural gas and need around 38 million cubic feet of fuel per day (mmcfd) for generation at full capacity.
However, its initial dependency on natural gas has overshadowed the launch with doubts about its effectiveness in lowering power outages.
Power is already being generated at two gas-run plants located at Raujan and Shikolbaha in Chittagong.
However, they either produce below capacity or stay shut most of the time because of a lack of gas supply.
PDB's Chittagong office said the district's daily demand during the peak hour is 700MW and the demand falls by 200MW in off-peak hours. But, the national grid only provides 450MW during peak hours and around 380MW during other times.
Chittagong's total production capacity is 490MW with two units in Raujan capable of producing 280MW, four units in Kaptai totalling 170MW and a unit in Shikolbaha of 40MW. The new plant will raise the output capacity to 640MW.
Already, four fertiliser plants – Palash Urea Fertiliser Factory (PUFF), Chittagong Urea Fertiliser Ltd (CUFL), Jamuna Fertiliser Company Ltd (JFCL) and Karnaphuli Fertiliser Company Limited (KAFCO) – have been shut down and their supply diverted to power generation.
The project's director Assadullah Miah told bdnews24.com: "The plant is fully prepared to go into commercial production. Even if the plant cannot initially produce at its full capacity due to gas shortage, the start of 'dual-fuel' production will address the deterrent."
The construction of the peaking power plant started in January, 2009 and finished on March this year before the test run started on Jun 29.
According to Karnaphuli Gas Distribution Company Ltd, excluding the new plant, Chittagong's gas demand is 330 mmcfd. However, supply trails the current demand by 90 mmcfd.
Source: bdnews24.com
