Rampal Plant Go Commercial with 660MW to Nat'l Grid

The coal-based Maitree Super Thermal Power Plant at Rampal started its commercial run on Saturday night by successfully synchronising 660 megawatts (MW) of electricity with the national grid of the country, reports BSS.

Earlier, India-Bangladesh Power Sector Cooperation, Unit-I of the 2x660 MW Maitree Super Thermal Power Project was successfully synchronised with the national grid on August 15, 2022, providing 91.7 MW of electricity to the national grid.

On June 2023, more than 660 MW of electricity will be synchronised to the national grid, an official of the project told BSS on Monday.

Confirming the matter, Managing Director of BIFPCL Sayeed Ekram Ullah said, "We have started

supplying electricity commercially. All type of technical work has already been done considering the environment.

The power plant will strengthen ties between two neighbouring countries side by side playing a vital role in the development of the area."

Being built at an estimated cost of Tk 16,000 crore, the plant aims to produce a total of 1,320 MW of electricity in its two units (660 megawatts in each).

Apparently, to address the environmental issues in a more judicious manne, Anwarul Azim, Deputy Manager of the project said, 660 MW of electricity is being produced from the first unit. Already 79.35 per cent work of the second unit has been completed. If everything goes well, the rest of the work will be completed by June 2023.

The Maitree Super Thermal Power Project is being constructed under the Government of India's Concessional Financing Scheme.

It is being built by Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) for the Bangladesh-India Friendship Power Company Private Ltd. (BIFPCL), a 50:50 Joint Venture company between India's National Thermal Power Company (NTPC) Ltd and Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB).

The 1,320 (2x660) MW coal-fired thermal power plant is being set up at a cost of approximately US$ 2 billion and is located in Rampal, in the Bagerhat district of Khulna Division.

Situated on some 915.5 acres of land, a cent per cent of power to be generated from this plant would be supplied inside Bangladesh. To transmit and thus distribute electricity from this plant, the 230 KV double circuit line to Khulna is ready while the 400 KV double circuit line to Dhaka is now ready up to Gopalganj.