One unit of Adani’s power plant resumes operations after trip
Power generation from one unit of the Adani Group’s coal-fired power plant in Godda, of Jharkhand in India, resumed at 6:15pm on Saturday (April 12) after a technical fault caused a complete shutdown of the plant on Friday night.
The outage lasted for 17 hours, during which Bangladesh faced a significant reduction in its electricity supply.
Md. Zahurul Islam, Member (Generation) of the Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB), confirmed the development to Jago News on Saturday evening.
"One unit of the Adani plant has resumed operations as of 6:15pm. Power supply has started from that unit," Zahurul Islam said.
However, the timeline for restarting the second unit remains uncertain. When asked about it, he responded, "We are yet to assess the extent of the damage to the second unit. Based on preliminary estimates, it may take around seven days for it to become operational again."
The Godda power plant, operated by the Adani Group to supply electricity to Bangaldesh, has two units with a combined capacity of 800 MW.
Tripping of both the units at Godda plant had raised concerns about a potential increase in power cuts across Bangladesh, with disruptions expected to worsen by Sunday if the supply is not restored.
Sources from the Power Grid Company of Bangladesh (PGCB) and the Power Development Board (PDB) confirmed that power generation from the first unit of the plant ceased on April 8, while the second unit stopped functioning around 1:00am on Friday.
Until now, the plant had been supplying up to 1,400 MW of electricity, with over 750 MW still being provided after April 8.
PGCB and PDB officials earlier warned that if the power supply from the Adani plant is not resumed soon, load shedding may escalate further by Sunday.
To address the growing energy deficit, the Power Development Board has requested Petrobangla to provide additional gas supplies.
Md Zahurul Islam, Member (Production) of the PDB, informed the media that the Adani Group is actively working to repair the faults at the plant.
Meanwhile, efforts are being made to ramp up production from oil-fired power plants to compensate for the shortfall.
"Additional production is being carried out at oil-based power plants to meet the demand. We have also requested Petrobangla to increase gas supply," Zahurul Islam said.
He emphasised that electricity production could meet demand if adequate fuel supplies are ensured.
The suspension of power supply from the Adani plant has created a significant gap in Bangladesh’s energy grid, which heavily relies on imported electricity during peak demand periods. The abrupt halt underscores the vulnerabilities of depending on external sources for power generation.
