Staff Correspondent

Matarbari power plant's first unit (600 MW) and Single Point Mooring (SPM) are ready for inauguration.

"Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is scheduled to open the first unit (600 MW) of Matarbari coal-fired power plant on November 11," State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid told BSS today.

The premier will also inaugurate the SPM (Single Point Mooring), which is expected to save about Tk. 800 crore annually, a ministry official said.

Nasrul Hamid said the first unit of two-unit Matarbari power plant, each having generation capacity of 600MW, started power generation on trial basis on July 29.

The first unit generated record 618 MW power as the reactor of the second unit was also installed on September 22.

Ministry sources said advanced technology has been used in constructing Matarbari power plant which is located near deep sea port.

They said that 13,104 tons of coal will be required per day to generate electricity from the plant at full scale.

The project authority also constructed jetty and silo for coal transportation and storage for the plant. The silo has capacity to store coal for 60 days, while mother vessel having capacity of 80,000 tons of coal can easily anchored in the jetty and only 1-2 days will be required for unloading coal from the mother vessel.

A 14.3 km long and 300m wide channel was excavated to accommodate mother vessels at the power plant's own jetty.

Sedimentation mitigation dikes have been constructed to ensure navigability, which will save channel from dredging year after year. A study showed that there was a potential of 8 million tons of sediment deposition per year.

Another challenge was constructed for ash management, but an ash pond was kept here to store ash of the power plant for a lifetime of 25 years.

There were two separate ash ponds, one covering 90 acres and other covering 600 acres of land. Coal yard has been prepared on 80 acres of land for coal storage.

The power plant was built in such a way that it cannot be affected by cyclones or tides. For this, a dam is being constructed 14 meters above sea level and infrastructure inside the dam with the height of 10 meters. It has been designed keeping in mind the high tides. The 1991 cyclone caused a 7 meter high tide but the height of the dam is double of that.

The second unit (600 MW) will come into commercial production six months after inauguration the first unit of 600 MW.

A loan agreement was signed between the Bangladesh government and Japan International Development Agency (JICA) on June 16, 2014. Tk. 43,921 crore will be given by JICA as project support and the remaining Tk. 7,933 crore will be provided from the own funds of Bangladesh government and Coal Power Generation Company Bangladesh Limited (CPGCBL).

The project is a multi-purpose one. The project will feature construction of imported coal load-unload jetty, power generation plant, townships, electrification of local areas, construction of power transmission lines and power plant connection roads.