Photo : Messenger
Amidst a severe heatwave gripping the country, electricity supply has declined by 1,235 megawatts (MW) against the demand. However, concerns have been raised that the actual load shedding situation might be worse than what the Power Development Board (PDB) is showing.
According to the PBD, the country's demand was estimated at 15,300 MW for April 3rd, while the generation was only at 14,344 MW, resulting in a power supply shortage of 956 MW. Analyzing the zones wise data reveals that load shedding accounted for 1253 MW.
Shikha Rani, a resident of Magura Sadar, told the Daily Messenger, “We are facing 8 to 10 hours of load shedding. We cannot sleep properly at night.”
Abul Kalam from Chattogram said, “We are facing 10 to 12 hours of load shedding per day.” However, despite a demand of 1,335 MW, the current supply in Chattogram is only 900 MW.
Load shedding across the country has begun before the summer season, even though the demand for electricity has not increased according to the government's projections.
Earlier, the Energy Division projected a demand of 17,800 MW for electricity during the peak summer season.
CAB Central Committee Vice President SM Nazer Hossain told the Daily Messenger, “People across the country are suffering for at least three to four hours, and villagers are suffering the most, enduring 12 to 15 hours of load shedding.”
BPDB's data shows that only 200 MW of load shedding occurs in the Dhaka zone, while Mymensingh experiences 190 MW. Furthermore, Chattogram's power supply shortage is recorded at 140 MW, Khulna at 175 MW, Rajshahi at 170 MW, Cumilla at 200 MW, Sylhet at 75 MW, and Rangpur at 85 MW.
The situation is worse in rural areas than in urban territories, as the authorities concerned have been concentrating more on stabilising supply in large cities, including the capital, to avoid public outrage.
The high temperatures, soaring up to 38.5 degrees Celsius over the last few days, are worsening the plight of ordinary citizens.
The Bangladesh Meteorological Department (BMD) has issued a heat alert for four divisions, including Dhaka.
The prevailing heatwave over Rajshahi, Khulna, Dhaka, and Barishal divisions may continue and spread for the next 72 hours, starting from Wednesday,” said a bulletin from the BMD.
Official statistics from the Power Grid Company of Bangladesh show that the power supply situation has worsened mainly with the onset of summer in the country in the last week of March.
“Now, every day, the country has been experiencing 1200-1650 MW of load shedding,” said a PBDB official.
Last year, the highest generation was recorded at 15,104.00 MW on July 30, against a demand of more than 17,000 MW.
As a result, the country witnessed a shortfall of 3000-4000 MW in power supply, although the installed capacity for power generation crossed 25,000 MW.
Meanwhile, Petrobangla officials informed that the supply of imported LNG could not be increased as the Summit Group's LNG terminal failed to resume production.
“We estimate it may take 3-4 more days to resume gas supply from Summit's LNG terminal,” said Engineer Md Kamruzzaman Khan, director (Operation and Mining) of Petrobangla.
He also informed that if Summit's LNG terminal resumes operation, it will add 500 million cubic feet per day (MMCFD) of gas to the national grid.
Petrobangla statistics show that the country's gas supply was 2,640 MMCFD on Thursday, against a demand for more than 4,000 MMCFD.
Messenger/Fameema
