Surplus Power Reserve Margin Is The Bane Of Bangladesh

A huge reserve of power generation capacity but the absence of a required spinning reserve has put Bangladesh's power sector under a double-edged sword.

- Saleque Sufi

The government over the past 15 years developed a generation capacity of grid-connected power of 28,098MW. If the off-grid captive generation and grid-connected solar are added, the total installed capacity on 30 June 2024 was 31,452MW. The highest generation achieved was 16,477MW on 30 April 2024. The average demand is during summer 16,000MW. With almost double the installed capacity, Bangladesh's power supply chain embraces the choric power generation and supply crisis mainly from the primary fuel supply crisis. The huge reserve margin comes of little or no use as the natural gas supply which is the main source continues to deplete. The other fuel furnace oil, the next large source is dirty polluting fuel. The government in a cash crisis cannot pay for the import. Such circumstances cause a major portion of capacity to remain idle and BPDB accounts for huge capacity charge payments. Surplus reserve capacity hence has become a curse for the power system. Power generation in 2000 relied over 90% on own fuel, but in 2024 imported fuel (Coal, LNG, Liquid Fuel, and Imported Power) contributed about 50%. A volatile global fuel market creates price shock, global geopolitics often disrupts the supply chain, dollar crisis incapacitates the power system purchasing fuel or making payments to generators. All these lead to chronic power and fuel supply crises.

What Is Reserve Margin?