Adani supply cut deepens power crisis

The country has been facing around 2,000 MW of load-shedding for the past two days as electricity generation from the Adani power plant in India and several local power plants has declined.

Power Grid Company of Bangladesh (PGCB) said power supply from the Adani plant had fallen to around 500 MW due to a shortage of coal.

Load-shedding reaches 2,000MW on Thursday 

Adani has informed the Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) that it will take four days to bring one of its units back into operation, according to a BPDB official.

“Power supply from the Adani power plant has reduced due to coal shortage. The shutdown of Unit-1 has further reduced the supply," Md Zahurul Islam, member (production) of BPDB, said.

He said Adani had informed the BPDB that Unit-1 would take four days to return to operation.

The plant's supply fell to 509 MW at 1pm on September 30 and remained between 500 MW and 600 MW afterwards. At 6am on Thursday, the plant was supplying only 504 MW to Bangladesh.

According to the Power Grid Bangladesh (PGB) National Load Dispatch Centre, Adani's peak-hour supply stood at 834.14 MW on September 29, with PGB attributing the reduced generation to coal shortages.

On September 28, the plant's highest supply was 822.58 MW against its 1,496 MW availability. Before the coal shortage hit the plant, its peak-hour supply had been substantially higher, reaching 1,323.06 MW on September 27 and 1,308.87 MW on September 26.

The reduced supply from Adani has added to pressure on the national grid as generation from several locally installed gas- and coal-fired power plants has also declined.

The Adani plant has faced repeated disruptions in supplying electricity to Bangladesh in recent months, with coal availability and transportation problems affecting generation.