Power Cell recommends 100MW wind power plant in Chittagong

http://www.newagebd.com/2009/sep/12/nat.html#1

Power Cell recommends 100MW wind power plant in Chittagong
Staff Correspondent

The Power Cell has recommended to the government installation of a 100MW wind-based power plant in Chittagong.

The cell made the recommendation last month after the Power Division had asked its research and planning wing to make a plan for installation of windmills in the country for generating electricity to reduce dependency on conventional energy, officials said.

Power secretary Abul Kalam Azad told New Age on Thursday, ‘We are examining the recommendations of the cell on installation of the 100MW wind-based power plant. We will also try to tap other renewable resources along with the wind.’

Officials of the Power Cell said in the proposal that they recommended carrying out a detailed feasibility study on installation of the wind mill in Chittagong.

‘In fact, the cell made the recommendations after scrutinising a proposal of a US-based company to install a 400MW wind-based power plant at Patenga in Chittagong. We pointed that initially the power plant should be of 100MW capacity and installed away from Patengna, preferably at Sitakunda,’ said an official.

He said the power plant should be installed through inviting open tender as many companies are now interested in setting up wind-based power plant in Bangladesh.

Earlier, in June, adviser to the prime minister, Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury, told reporters that they had asked the Power Cell to make recommendations on installation of a 50-MW wind-based power plant.

The official said the installation cost of a 100MW wind-based power plant could be around Tk 1,000 crore to Tk 1,500 crore while the production cost of each unit of electricity would be around Tk 10 to Tk 12 because of the huge capital.

‘Although there is no fuel cost in generating electricity from a wind mill, the high capital cost pushes up the price of electricity. As wind mill is environment-friendly many people opt for wind power. The per unit production cost of gas-based electricity is around Tk 2 while it is Tk 8 to Tk 10 in oil-based power,’ he said.

Although Bangladesh has been considering installation of wind-base power plants, experts earlier found that wind speed in most parts of the country was not suitable for large wind power plants.

Two 1MW wind turbines have so far been installed at Muhuri at Feni and in Cox’s Bazar but they are not very successful in generating electricity regularly.

Different studies including that of the Local Government Engineering Department showed that annual wind speed in the coastal belt ranges from 2.96 metres per second to 4.54 m/sec at Kuakata.

Power officials, however, said wind blows at an average speed of 5.5 to 9.5 m/s at 20m above the ground in some places of the country including Chittagong almost throughout the year.

‘With this wind speed and the new technology, it is now possible to generate large amount of electricity although earlier we believed the wind speed should be over 10 m/s for generating electricity,’ said an official.

The country is facing a shortfall of nearly 2,000mw of power a day due to the limited capacity of electricity generation.

Bangladesh’s more than 80 per cent power is generated using natural gas but with the current shortage of gas, the government is looking for alternative energy sources like coal, fuel oils, wind and solar.