Dhaka: The government is setting up three power hubs to boost the country’s power generation capacity over the next two decades.

The hubs will be constructed at three locations as part of the Power System Master Plan 2016.

Official sources said they will be located in Cox’s Bazar’s Maheshkhali and Matarbari in south-east, and Patuakhali’s Payra in the south-west, reports the UNB.

These hubs will house 21 mega power plants with a total generation capacity of 28,600MW.

Port facilities were considered when choosing the locations as the power plants on the card will use imported coal and liquefied natural gas (LNG).

Of the proposed hubs, Maheshkhali will have eight mega power projects with a generation capacity of about 12,200MW while Matarbari will house seven plants with 6,200MW capacity.

The Payra hub will have six power plants with a generation capacity of 10,200MW.

Power Division officials said the government has already signed a number of deals to set up power plants in these hubs between 2025 and 2038.

They said most of the power plant projects will be implemented either in public sector or in joint venture with reputed foreign companies.

‘The government is building the power hubs to fulfill its electoral pledge to bring everyone under electricity coverage,’ said Power Cell Director General Mohammad Hossain. 

Currently, Bangladesh has a generation capacity of about 21,000MW and the country regularly generates between 9,000-11,000MW.

At present, the government claims that there is no gap between demand and supply. It blames reports of power outage on inadequate transmission and distribution capacity.

The Power System Master Plan reveals that about 44,275MW electricity generation capacity will be added to the existing system by 2030. Of this, 37,271MW will come from public sector while 4,008MW from the private sector and some 3,000MW will be imported.

Power plants in Maheshkhali hub, for which the government signed initial contracts, include Maheshkhali 1,200-1,320MW (JV of BPDB & CHDHK, China), Maheshkhali 1,200-1,320MW (JV of BPDB and TNB-PTB, Malaysia), Maheshkhali 1,200-1,320MW (JV of BPDB and SEPCO, China), Maheshkhali 1,200-1,320MW (JV of BPDB and KEPCO, South Korea) and 3,600MW (1200X3) LNG-based power plant (GE and BPDB).

The power plants in Matarbari hub, for which contracts were signed, are 1,200MW coal-based plant, 1,200MW Matarbari (JV of CPGCBL and Sumitomo, Japan), Matarbari 700MW coal-fired (JV of Symcorp and CPGCBL) and Matarbari 500-600MW LNG-based power plant (CPGCBL-Mitsui).

In Payra, the Patuakhali Hub, contracts were signed for power plants including 1,320MW coal-fired plant (JV of NWPGCL-CMC, China), 1,320MW phase-1 (JV of RPCL and Norinco, China), 1,320MW phase -2 (JV of RPCL and Norinco, China)  and 3,600MW (1200X3) LNG-based power plant (JDA of NWPGCL and Siemens).