Why a huge coal-fired power station in Bangladesh keeps running out of coal
One of the world’s newest, most controversial coal-fired power plants was commissioned in December. In January it was stopped for a month. Again, in April it stood still for 23 days.
The reason: he had no coal to burn.
That meant it couldn’t produce electricity, nor could it make money to pay it back It cost $2 billion to build.
The problems facing the Maitree power plant are a glimpse of the risks other new coal plants around the world may face in the coming years, for a variety of reasons. Maitree closed temporarily due to a shortage of foreign exchange to import coal from Indonesia. This was because the value of the Bangladeshi taka contracted, while commodity prices, including coal, rose sharply.
Other coal-fired power plants elsewhere threaten to shut down in the coming years because coal could soon lose its appeal as the cheapest source of electricity.
As prices for renewable energy such as wind and solar fall, it will become more difficult to operate coal plants, including new plants whose developers have yet to recoup their investment. (For Maitree, that’s expected to take 25 years.) In the case of government-funded projects like this one, that could put the bill on the taxpayer.
The country’s energy minister, Nasrul Hamid, strongly defended the decision to build the plant. No one could have foreseen the many challenges that would befall the project, he said in an interview, including the rising price of coal on the world market or the currency crisis facing his country.
Whether from coal or another fuel, he said, Bangladesh needs affordable, reliable electricity to grow its industries. “It can be energy from fossil fuels. Whatever it is, we need energy,” he said. “Every country has done that.”
Despite his optimism, Bangladesh, like many other countries in Asia, is softening on coal.
Mr. Hamid’s government canceled construction of 12 coal-fired power plants during the past yearsand it aims to get 40 percent of its electricity from what it calls “clean energy” (including gas, which is now the largest share of electricity) by 2040. exploring offshore windand hydropower from Nepal.
said India recently it would suspend new coal-fired power plant projects for the next five years. Elsewhere, old coal-fired power plants are slowly being retired and new projects are being halted Global energy monitorfollowing the construction of coal-fired power stations.
The big outlier is China, that is build more coal-fired power plants than the rest of the world combined.
The 1,320 megawatt coal project at Rampal is also contested because it is less than 10 miles upstream from the gateway to the world’s largest mangrove forest, the Sundarbans. a UNESCO world heritage, it is home to the Bengal tiger, rare river dolphins and several species of mangroves. Environmentalists say the coal plant could damage the air and water in the area.
“It’s a good thing he’s standing still. It doesn’t emit deadly gas,” said Sultana Kamal, an experienced environmental lawyer from Dhaka, during one of the recent closures. “On the other hand, it is a huge waste of public money. It just shows how poorly planned the whole thing was.”
Sail north along the Pashur River from the dense, dark tangle of the Sundarbans Forest, first passing women, waist-deep in water, dragging nets to scoop up young shrimp to sell to inland shrimp farms. Villages are enclosed by mud walls that can crumble during high tide or storms.
It is also a busy industrial thoroughfare. Cement factories and spherical tanks are located on the riverbanks to store imported gas. The port city of Mongla is dotted with factories making fast fashion for export.
Then there is the 900-meter-high chimney of the coal-fired power station, crowned with a bright red light.
The plant’s managers say they have taken precautions against environmental risks. Coal must be transported in covered ships to prevent coal dust from spreading. Gypsum, a by-product of coal combustion, is sold to cement factories. Ash ponds should be covered. “We understand that this is a very sensitive area,” said Bappaditya Sarkar, a general manager.
The country’s coal rollout reflects its diplomatic strategy. Maitree is a joint project with the Indian state-owned National Thermal Power Corporation. A second coal project has begun sending electricity to Bangladesh from a coal-fired power plant in India run by Indian conglomerate Adani. China helped with two coal-fired power stations, in Barisal and Payra. Japan finances another, under construction in Matarbari.
For Bangladeshi citizens, the price of coal-fired electricity was much higher than expected. Also less reliable. No sooner had Maitree resumed operations in mid-May, having managed to secure foreign currency to pay its coal suppliers, than the Payra factory closed, run by another state-owned company, also temporarily, due to a lack of coal. Bangladesh is also reeling from power cuts in blistering heat.
Another coal-fired power station was to be built not far from Maitree. But the developers have changed their minds. It is now the second largest solar park in the country.