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Load-shedding dogs Chittagong city

Power generation hampered by gas supply dearth

STAFF CORRESPONDENT, Ctg
An acute power crisis resulting from a massive shortfall in gas supply has been dogging the port city and the region since late January forcing in an average of two-hour loadshedding a day.
The power outage ahead of the SSC examinations harasses the students the most. It also affects the farmers hampering irrigation for the Irri-Boro cultivation.
According to sources, the unusual power crisis in this off-peak season has been caused mainly by
a dearth of gas supply and is likely to continue up to the end of March.
Due to the scant supply of gas, neither the two-unit Raozan Power Plant nor the Shikalbaha bargemounted one has been able to work at full capacity for the last few weeks, sources at the Power Development Board (PDB) said.
With a gas supply less than two-thirds of the required 98 million cft per day, the gas-fired power plants together are generating around 280MW power as against a 480MW total capacity. Of them, the two units
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at the 420MW Raozan Power Plant are producing around 240MW and the 60MW Shikalbaha bargemounted power plant 40MW.
On the other hand, sources said, with two of the five units at 230MW Kaptai Hydroelectric Plant under overhauling, the rest three are generating only around 140MW power.
As such, the total power generation by plants in the Chittagong region now stands at around 420MW as against a 630MW capacity and a 375MW demand.
After supplying its quota to the national grid and the typical system loss, the Chittagong PDB is forced to make 120MW to 150MW loadshedding a day, sources said.
A PDB official requesting anonymity said around 40 percent of the city witnesses power outage for two hours a day in phases.
He expressed the fear that if the gas supply does not reach the required level, the situation would worsen in the upcoming peak season of summer, when the demand for power in the region would go up to 435MW a day.
Sources at Bakhrabad Gas Systems Limited admitted that presently they are supplying around 60mcft gas, 38mcft less than the required amount of 98mcft, to the three gas-fired power plants in Chittagong a day. They said it would be possible to supply an additional 10mcft gas by the end of March.