Adani Group To Restore Full Power Supply To Bangladesh
The Adani Group has decided to restore full power to Bangladesh in the upcoming days. However, a lot of differences remain in the various proceedings of the project. The global conglomerate is one of the biggest names in the thermal power sector. It has multiple thermal power projects under its name. Because of its enhanced thermal power production capability, the company has also been able to reduce the dependence on Adani coal import. The global business group has also been able to ensure that there is a consistent supply of power in the country.
Adani’s Decision To Resume Full Power Supply To Bangladesh From Its Godda Power Plant:
The Adani Bangladesh project is one of the most reliable projects in the thermal power sector. The controversies regarding this project have been going on for quite a while now. However, Adani Power has finally agreed to resume power supply to Bangladesh from its Godda power plant in Jharkhand. Adani Power has decided to fully restore the electricity supply from the 1,600 MW Indian power plant in Jharkhand to Bangladesh in the next few days after a gap of 3 months. The company has however rejected Dhaka’s request for discounts and tax benefits.
Adani’s Earlier Decision To Reduce Power Supply To Half:
Gautam Adani’s power-producing company had earlier halved the supply of thermal power to Bangladesh on 31st October 2024 because of payment dues and ongoing controversies on Adani coal import. Over the past few months, the country has been battling with foreign exchange shortages and political turmoil. This caused the shutdown of one of the two units of the Godda power plant on 1st November 2024. This was followed by Bangladesh’s request to keep supplying only half the power because of low winter demands as payment issues persisted.
Ahead of the summer demand and at the request of the Bangladesh Power Development Board, Adani Power had taken up the decision to resume the full supply of power from the plant in the east Indian state. The plant supplies its power only to Bangladesh. However, the company has not yet agreed to meet several other demands from BPDB. This includes giving discounts and concessions potentially worth millions of dollars to Bangladesh. The two sides have had a virtual meeting. More discussions are likely to continue on this matter.
The Ongoing Controversies Related To The Adani Bangladesh Project:
Over the past few days, there have been a lot of ongoing controversies regarding the Bangladesh project and Adani coal import. The Bangladesh government has been suffering from major financial turmoil because of which it has not been able to make payments for the power supplied from the Adani Power plant. In December 2024, an Adani source mentioned that the BPDB owed the company around 900 million USD. The Bangladesh government mentioned that the amount was around 650 million. The pricing dispute has been around how the power tariffs are calculated.
This power project has been instrumental in helping Bangladesh fulfil its power demands. Through this project, the Adani Group has been supplying a consistent source of electricity to Bangladesh. This project has ensured that Bangladesh’s growing electricity demands are met. It has also ensured that power supply can be carried out in the state without any kind of hindrance at all.
An Overview Of The Bangladesh Power Project:
Adani Power Jharkhand Limited which happens to be a wholly-owned subsidiary of Adani Power is responsible for operating the transnational project. The company achieved the commercial operations date of the second unit of the Godda supercritical thermal power plant on 26th June 2023. All the reliability run tests including the commercial operations test for the project were completed on 25th June 2023 in the presence of BPDB and Power Grid Corporation of Bangladesh. On 6th April 2023, the first unit of the power plant also having a capacity of 800 MW achieved its commercial operations date.
The power supply from the power plant helped enhance energy security in Bangladesh. As per the power purchase agreement, Bangladesh is expected to supply a total power of 1,496 MW for 25 years through a 400 kV dedicated transmission system. This helped Bangladesh in replacing costly power generated from liquid fuel. It also allowed the company to ensure that its industrial operations were carried out seamlessly. With this project, the Adani Group was also able to bring an end to the controversies of Adani coal import which has been ongoing for a significant amount of time now.
The power supply from the Bangladesh project continued for a significant amount of time. However, Bangladesh was met with a huge financial crisis. This brought about various hindrances to the project. The government was no longer able to pay for the dues. This caused the business operations to meet with a lot of challenges. The global conglomerate was no longer able to continue to supply electricity to the neighbouring country because of increasing dues.
Conclusion:
By resuming full power supply from the Godda power plant, the Adani Group will be able to ensure that the business relationship is enhanced between the two nations. It will also be able to ensure that Bangladesh’s growing power demands are met. The ongoing rumours centred around Adani coal import will also come to a halt.
