The eight-member investigation committee to look into the recent national grid failure on the Aminbazar-Gopalganj line in its draft report has said that the temporary short circuit led to grid failure in southeastern region on April 26.
Although the report did not discuss the overall situation of Bangladesh's grid system's instability in detail but Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) Chairman Engr Rezaul Karim told in a meeting at the Power Division, that country's power grid faces serious stability risks as only 11 power plants demonstrating excellent performance under the Free Governor Mode of Operation (FGMO).
Due to this causes, country is experiencing frequent grid failures, resulting in widespread blackouts. In November 2014, Bangladesh suffered from its worst power outage which left the country's entire population without electricity for more than 14 hours.
However, the draft report said grid failure of southeastern districts also hit two big power plants including Payra and Rampal resulted in huge power cut at most of the districts in Khulna and Barishal, which occurred in the Khulna region between 5:45 pm and 7:22 pm.
"Only 34 out of 144 operational power plants have some form of FGMO settings," BPDB Chairman told the meeting on April 6, 2025 at Power Division.
He was mentioning the official document of 'Bangladesh Power System Reliability and Efficiency Improvement Project' funded by the World Bank.
Most of the country's major base-load coal-fired power plants - including SS Power (1,320 MW), Adani Unit-2 (764 MW), Rampal TPP Unit-1 (617 MW), Matarbari Unit-2 (600 MW), and Barishal Electric (307 MW) - currently lack FGMO functionality due to plant setting issues, it said.
However, only four plants have undergone FGMO testing as part of the Bangladesh Power Grid Stability Project, BPDB's Chairman said.
Meanwhile, the probe committee, lead by Dr. Abdul Hasib Chowdhury, the Pro-Vice Chancellor of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) are set to submit its official reports to the ministry of Power division within a day or two, sources said.
"The power plants shut down due to a temporary short-circuit in two circuits located about 65 kilometres away from the Aminbazar substation and about 25 kilometres from the Gopalganj substation, it occurred as part of the automatic protection system of the grid," the draft report said.
The statement also states that as a result of the short circuit, the Payra and Rampal power plants, the 307 MW coal-based power plant in Barishal, Bhola Power Plant and Bhola Natun Bidyut were out of service for a while.
Besides, a unit of the high-capacity HVDC (500 MW) in Kushtia's Bheramara, which imports electricity from India, shut down.
Total power shortage was 2,277 megawatts on April 26.
A separate probe committee was formed by the Power Grid Bangladesh PLC in this regard, they are working on it.
Bangladesh's power grid faces serious stability risks, only 11 power plants demonstrating excellent performance under the Free Governor Mode of Operation (FGMO), according to official sources.
Earlier, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) made several key recommendations that includes short-term, mid-term solution. But all are in government red-tape, official said.
