The Payra thermal power plant in Kalapara upazila of Patuakhali has halted production to conduct maintenance and facilitate the test commissioning of a neighbouring facility, according to officials of the 1,320-megawatt (MW) coal-fired power station.
They informed local correspondents of some leading national dailies that the plant's first 660 MW unit was shut down for seven days from December 16 for the test commissioning of the nearby power plant run by RPCL- NORINCO International Power Limited (RNPL).
Meanwhile, the second unit was shuttered earlier on November 9 for three months for conducting major maintenance works, said Shah Abdul Mawla, project officer of the Payra power plant.
He said the newly-built RNPL power plant will begin production on a trial basis in January.
As such, power generation at the Payra power plant was halted to allow testing of the transmission lines of the new facility in Amtoli upazila of Barguna, he said.
The new plant is located on the banks of the Ramnabad river, just two kilometres north of the Payra power plant. Costing about $2.5 billion, its construction began in 2019 on some 950 acres of land.
The RNPL is a joint venture of Bangladesh's state-owned Rural Power Company Limited and China's state-owned Norinco International Cooperation Limited, with each having an equal stake.
To enable the testfor commissioning the RNPL-run plant, the authorities of the Payra power plant allowed for their thermal power transmission lines to be kept shut, he added.
Selim Bhuiyan, managing director of the RNPL, said each unit of the two units of the new power station can produce up to 660 MW of electricity.
"But to begin operations, it is now necessary to conduct the test. For this, the Payra-Gopalganj 400 kV power transmission line will have to be shut down. Then, it will take up to 75 days for the commissioning," he added.
Bhuiyan also said they expect the new plant to begin contributing to the national grid on the first week of March and production at its second unit of equal capacity was expected to begin by the end of May.
