The supply of additional 500 megawatt of power from neighbouring India is set to start from Monday.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi will jointly switch it on through video conferencing from Dhaka and New Delhi.
Bangladesh now imports some 660MW power from India.
NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam (NVVN), a wholly-owned subsidiary of India’s biggest power producer, will supply 300MW while Power Trading Corporation (PTC) India Ltd will supply the remaining 200MW.
The power will be supplied through the recently-completed second unit of the Bheramara-Bahrampur HDVC interconnection substation.
In 2013, Bangladesh started to import power through this substation’s first unit, which now adds 500 MW to the national grid. Another 160 MW is imported through the northeastern Indian state of Tripura.
With the supply of the additional 500MW, Bangladesh will now import some 1,660MW power from the neighbouring country.
Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) had said that despite the formal launching is set for Monday afternoon, power supply through the substation will start on test-basis from Sunday midnight.
“An initial demand of 300MW has been forwarded to India. The supply is expected to start from midnight,” BPDB Chairman Khaled Mahmud said.
Power Grid Company of Bangladesh (PGCB), the agency in charge of transmission of the power, said the supply is set to start from 12am.
“If that’s not possible for some reasons, then we expect to start it around 10am,” said QM Shafiqul Islam, a PGCB project director.
The BPDB had invited tenders for supply of 500MW power from India for short term (Jun 1, 2018 to Dec 31, 2019) and long term (Jan 1, 2020 to May 31, 2033).
NTPC and PTC India emerged as the lowest bidders to win the contracts to supply power to Bangladesh for 15 years.
According to people familiar with the matter, Bangladesh will buy power from NTPC at Tk 4.71 per unit for short term and Tk 6.48 from January 2020 to May 2033.
PTC India will sell at Tk 4.86 per until December next year and at Tk 6.54 from 2020.
Bangladesh’s power generation capacity has grown by two and half times in the last eight years, but the country is yet to bring its entire population under electricity coverage.
With efforts to raise investment, both local and foreign, through setting up more than 100 economic zones, power demand is set to shoot up in the coming years.
To overcome possible shortages in supply, Bangladesh plans to import at least 5,000 MW of power from its four neighbours— India, Nepal, Bhutan and Myanmar by 2040.