Rampal Power Plant’s second unit resumes production after eight days
Rampal power plant. Collected photo.
Electricity generation has resumed at the second unit of the Rampal Thermal Power Plant in Bagerhat after it remained shut for eight days due to a mechanical fault.
Anwarul Azim, general manager of the plant’s human resources department, said the unit was restarted at around 12pm on Sunday (September 20).
He said the second unit was brought back online after maintenance work was completed. Initially, the unit is generating 368.75 megawatts of electricity. Generation will gradually be increased according to demand and supplied to the national grid.
The second unit was shut down at around 11:30am last Sunday (September 13) due to a mechanical fault. With only the first unit operating, the plant’s total generation capacity temporarily fell by around half.
Anwarul Azim said, “We were affected by the temporary suspension of electricity generation due to the mechanical fault. We always try to maintain uninterrupted power generation at the Rampal Thermal Power Plant. However, it is normal for one of the units to be temporarily shut down from time to time because of mechanical problems. Once a fault occurs, efforts are made to resolve it quickly.”
The two units of the Rampal Thermal Power Plant have a combined installed generation capacity of 1,320 megawatts, with each unit capable of generating 660 megawatts. Electricity generated by the plant is supplied to the national grid through the Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB). The plant’s power transmission system has 400kV and 220kV transmission connections.
Built as a joint venture between Bangladesh and India, the power plant is operated by Bangladesh-India Friendship Power Company Limited (BIFPCL). The company is a 50:50 joint venture between the Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) and India’s NTPC. The plant is located in the Sapmari area of Rampal upazila in Bagerhat.
After a lengthy construction process, the plant’s first unit began generating electricity on December 23, 2022. The second unit began trial generation on October 24 the following year. Commercial operations at the plant began on March 12, 2024.
However, since the start of commercial operations, the plant’s units have been temporarily shut down on several occasions due to technical faults and other reasons.
