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PDB team to inspect coal-based
power plants in India, China


http://www.newagebd.com/2009/nov/07/nat.html

The Power Development Board will send a team of experts to India and China in a month for inspection of large coal-based power plants as the board wants to replicate the expertise of the two countries in installing four similar plants here.
The PDB team, led by its chief engineer is likely to visit two under-construction coal-based power plants in Hyderabad and Jharkhand in India between November 17 and 22 and some plants in China in the first week of December, said officials of the board.
‘The team will visit some existing coal-based power plants and some under- construction ones to get firsthand experience of how India and China were setting up such large power plants, especially with imported coal,’ said a high official of the board.
PDB chairman Alamgir Kabir told New Age on Friday that the team would mainly try to learn how India and China were using the latest technology called “super critical pressure technology” in operating environment-friendly and efficient coal-based power plants.
‘India’s Tata is constructing a large coal-based power plant in Jharkhand and Reliance Group is building another plant in Hyderabad. One of the plants is based on imported coal. The team will inspect how India handles huge volumes of imported coal,’ he said.
The government has planned to install four coal-based power plants, each with 500 megawatts capacity, at Chittagong, Mongla, Meghnaghat and Jajira, near the site of the proposed Padma Bridge. The plants would be based primarily on imported coal.
PDB officials, however, do not know yet how they would handle around 4.5 million tonnes of coal to be imported a year to run the power plants.
Bangladesh has one 250MW coal-based power plant near the entrance to the mine of the Barapukuria coalfield in Dinajpur.
‘At present there is no infrastructure to unload imported coal at Chittagong and Mongla ports. Necessary infrastructure would be needed to carry the coal and store it for power plants. We will inspect how India manages it,’ said another official.
Besides, PDB will carry out a detailed feasibility study and environmental impact assessment before installation of the plants.
‘The board will appoint an international consultant for making the assessment,’ said the official.
As projected by the PDB, around $3 billion will be required for setting up the plants and the fund is expected to be raised through public-private partnership.