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Bangladesh's coal-fired power generation nearly tripled in 2023, helping the country weather its worst power shortages in over a decade and slash rising power generation costs, Reuters reported.
Power generation from coal surged to 21 TWh in 2023, higher than 7.9 TWh in 2022, hitting a new high in history, according to an analysis from the Power Grid Company of Bangladesh (PGCB).
Coal played a dominated role in Bangladesh's electricity mix in 2023 amid restrained development of cleaner fuels with government struggling to pay for costly natural gas, furnace oil and diesel imports as U.S. dollar reserves shrunk and the local currency depreciated.
The share of coal projected to climb up further this year as a new unit is expected to come into operation. And the dependence on natural gas is forecast to remain stable and use of liquid fuels may decline, said a senior energy ministry official.
Coal's share in the power generation fuel mix increased to 14.2% in 2023, higher than 8.9% in 2022; while that of natural gas climbed up to 55.2% from last year's 51%, marking the first increase in four years. And the share of oil and diesel in power generation decreased to 20.1% this year from 2022's 29.6%, PGCB data showed.
Bangladesh experienced unplanned power outages three out of every four days in 2023. The total shortage climbed up to 2.7 TWh, 40% higher than a year earlier, which accounted for 2.8% of demand.
The power shortage eased in the second half of 2023 as coal-fired power generation increased, putting Bangladesh on track to reduce average power generation costs for the first time in four years.
The average generation costs declined about 9% from 2022 to 4.78 U.S. cents per KWh during the first eleven months this year.
Bangladesh also anticipates boosting its green credentials this year by doubling its solar capacity and commissioning a long-delayed nuclear power plant.
However, fossil fuels' dominated position in Bangladesh's power generation is forecast to extend in the coming years, with renewable energy expected to take up no more than 5% of total output this decade, according to relative officials.
(Writing by yan.sun Editing by Emma Yang)
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