Payra power plant likely to be mega burden  

The country's mega coal-fired power project, the 1,320 MW Payra Power Plant, is going to be a burden for the country as it will only increase government subsidy and will never be able to run in full swing in near future due to power transmission limitations.
It has been calculated that due to transmission inability, the government needs to pay about Tk 160 crore as capacity charges to the plant authority every month to compensate for its (company's) loss against its investment.
"The second unit of Pyara Power Plant is ready to fire from the end of this month but it would fail to      add any MW into the national grid as Power Grid Company of Bangladesh (PGCB) has failed to complete the Payra-Gopalganj power transmission line as per schedule," a senior official of the power Division told the Daily Observer on Thursday.
Due to this delay, the power plant authority plans to run half of the generation capacity along with its first unit, and the government need to pay about Tk 160 crore as capacity charge every month, official added.
Bangladesh-China Power Company Ltd (BCPCL), the operator of the Payra power plant is set to synchronise the plant by the end of this month, however, test operation usually runs for three months to synchronise a power plant with the national grid before commercial operation starts. BCPCL official said they could be able to go for the test-run within a month or two.
Power Division sources said there is an alternative supply source, but in that case it need to shutdown seven power plants in the southern part of the country including 225 MW combined cycle power plant, 95 MW Aggreko Power Plant, 33 MW Venture PP and 30 MW GT Power Plant in Bhola, and the 110 MW Summit Power Plant in Barisal, a 109 MW plant in Gopalganj and the 100 MW Madhumati Power Plant in Bagerhat to start generating electricity from the newly-constructed unit-1 of the Payra Power Plant. However, capacity charge payment would be also an issue here.
"As per schedule, the proposed transmission line was to be ready by November 15 in 2019. However, it is yet to ready and start operation by this year," Shah Abdul Maula, Project Director and Chief Engineer of the Bangladesh-China Power Company Ltd (BCPCL) said.
The installation of the 84 km 400 KV double-circuit transmission line connecting the power plant to Aminbazar in Dhaka is scheduled to be completed in June 2021, they said. According to the official the substation in Gopalganj will connect the transmission line from Payra plant which are still under construction.
Due to this transmission crisis the first unit of the plant could never reach its full generation, the unit's highest generation was 530 MW but it largely fluctuated between 200 MW and 400 MW.
During the construction period of the power plant, a major project was undertaken by the PGCB to build a number of transmission lines and substations to facilitate power evacuation from Payra plant that includes construction of 160km 400 KV double circuit transmission line from Payra plant to Gopalganj and 164.6km Aminbazar-Mawa-Gopalganj-Mongla 400 KV double circuit line, installation of 400/132  KV, 3�325 MVA AIS Substation, construction of 9.4km river-crossing line beside Padma Bridge and installation of substation (400 KV portion) at Aminbazar with 3�520 MVA transformers.
"Our main challenge is to construct a 9.4km river-crossing line beside Padma Bridge which has already got delayed in financing and tender process," according to a PGCB official.