Bangladesh is now thinking afresh about its energy sector, particularly due to theemerging situation owing to the COVID-19 pandemic impact that spread acrossdifferent sectors of the economy. A dilemma has already been created whether thecountry should go for LNG-based power generation instead of the coal-basedones those remained at the planning stage yet. A local think even suggested goingfor renewable energy to replace the coal-based capacity. However, the time isalmost up to review the Power System Master Plan (PSMP). It is scheduled to bereviewed in 2021. In doing so, the generation plan, demand projection and fuelmix must be reviewed after having in-depth analysis on the sector and overalleconomy in the New Normal World after the pandemic. However, goingexclusively on LNG, considering coal as dirty fuel, may lead Bangladesh again totricky mono-fuel dependent country. Adding own primary fuel like gas and coalin the fuel mix would facilitate achieving a longer term energy security.

Considering the impact of COVID-19 and other circumstances, it is high time torevisit the power system plan so that it does not fall into the mono-fuel trap, andgradually rely on local fuel resources.

Fortnightly Magazine, Vol 18, Issue 7, September 16-30

Bangladesh’s vision to expandthe role of natural gas is in theright direction. The recent an-nouncement to review the plansof building large new coal-firedpower capacities is a positivestep towards the transition toclean energy. Bangladesh has tomeet its growing energy needs,particularly for power genera-tion, where there is a huge needto add baseload capacities. But,it is important to opt for ...

Waste to Energy (WTE) is anywaste treatment process in whichenergy is generated in the form ofelectricity, heat or transport fuelsusually from municipal solidwaste (MSW). If sustainable solidwaste management (SWM) was atree, WTE would sit in the mid-dle, having recycling at the top,while landfilling at the bottom ofit. WTE began as a means ofwaste volume reduction thatwould minimize waste’s ...

Is Bangladesh shifting power generationaway from coal? The talks are going onamong the opinion leaders and expertswhether the country should go ahead withthe plan to set up coal-based power plants.They reached almost a consensus that theplants which are already in their advancedstage of implementation will be continued,but the ones at their initial stage of plan-ning should be stopped by now. State Min-ister for Power, Energy and MineralResources Nasrul Hamid in a post-budgetdiscussion organized by Centre for ...

43 19 9

EditorMollah M Amzad Hossain

Advisory EditorAnwarul Islam TarekMortuza Ahmad FaruqueSaiful Amin

International EditorDr. Nafis Ahmed

Contributing EditorsSaleque Sufi

Online EditorGSM Shamsuzzoha (Nasim)

Managing EditorAfroza Hossain

Deputy EditorSyed Mansur Hashim

Magazine AdministratorAKM Shamsul HoqueReportersArunima HossainJannatul Ferdushy Sova

Assistant Online EditorAditya HossainDesign & GraphicsMd. Monirul Islam PhotographyBulbul Ahmed

ProductionMufazzal Hossain JoyComputer GraphicsMd. Uzzal Hossain

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Encouraged by the readers and patrons, the EP would continue bringingout Green Pages to contribute to the country’s efforts in its journeytowards environment-friendly energy.

5 WORLD WATCH

Latest Development in

World

6,8 SNAPSHOT

Latest Development

9 COVER

High Time to Redesign Plan

COVER ARTICLE

15 Energy Generation Plan in

New Normal Bangladesh

SPECIAL ARTICLE

19 Waste to Energy: Prospects

for Smaller Cities in

Bangladesh

SPECIAL REPORT

23 Remembering a Legendary

Geologist

REPORT

21 China to Overtake US in

N­Energy by 2030

27 6.2% Titas Gas Risers Leaky

28 BPDB Faces Tk 37bn Loss in

5 Months

29 Smart Grid, GIS to Ensure

Uninterrupted Power: Nasrul

30 Beximco LPG, Meghna

Petroleum Team Up to Widen

Autogas Market

30 Siemens Energy CEO: New

Spinoff to Focus on R&D,

Service

38 The Future of Global Gas

Demand

TRIBUTE

37 Tribute to Dr. Rashid Sarkar

CLIMATE

39 Climate Change: PM Hopes

GCA to be a Center of

Excellence

39 FM for Engaging Youth Power

Globally on Climate Front

40 Workshop on Climate Change

Held

40 La Nina Likely, But

Temperatures Set to Remain

High: UN’

41 GCA to be Milestone for Int'l

Partnership: FM

41 Bangladesh’s Climate

Adaptation is Example for

World to Follow: UK

INTERVIEW

43 IYury Sentyurin;

Secretary General of GECF

33 edotco Deploys

Bangladesh’s First Hybrid

Solar­Wind Tower in Hatiya

35 Pandemic Puts Electric

Vehicle Plant in The Slow

Lane

35 Germany’s First ‘Green’

Bonds Attract Strong

Demand

36 DNCC to Install 46,410

LED Lights by 2021

5

Worldwatch

September 16, 2020

The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa gov-ernment is seekingWorld Bank assis-tance for the devel-opment of 88MW

run-of-river hydropower project on the Gabral tributary of theSwat river to generate about 339 gigawatt hours of electricityannually.

The World Bank is currently evaluating the project which willbe located near the Kalam town in Swat district.

The proposed project involves construction of 21-meter highriverbed and 100-meter wide weir with spillways, under sluices,fish ladder, outlet structures and sand trap, according to the proj-ect document.

The project will be run-of-river, with a limited reservoir area offifty acres. The most direct and negative impacts of the projectwill be on aquatic ecology caused by the construction of a weirand diversion of river flows and land acquisition.

The overall positive impact of the project generating renewableelectricity with mini-mal carbon emission,will be experiencedcountrywide throughthe provision ofenough energy topower the equivalentof about 116,000homes per year.

WB Support Sought toBuild Power Projecton Swat River

MAN En-ergy So-l u t i o n sa n dW a s c oh a v e

signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to promoteand commercialize Power-to-X (PtX) projects in South-East Asia.

The technology in question converts electricity into carbon-neu-tral synthetic fuels, gas or liquid, for use as a clean, carbon-neu-tral energy source.

Due to travel restrictions triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic,the signing ceremony took place as a digital event with repre-sentatives from both companies participating via a live-videostream.

“We see a huge potential for Synthetic Fuels,” said Uwe Lauber,CEO of MAN Energy Solutions.

“To advance decarbonisation, climate-neutral fuels are needed inall sectors where direct electrification via batteries is not an option— as is the case with international shipping. Without a doubt,Power-to-X is one of the key technologies needed to generate suchsynthetic fuels. We are very happy to work in South-East Asia to-gether with Wasco and build on their vast network, tremendousexperience, and substantial capabilities in the region.”

MAN Energy Solutions,Wasco to Drive Power-to-GasTech in South-East Asia

Total poweri n d u s t r yM&A deals inQ2 2020

worth $1.56bn were announced in the UK, according to Glob-alData’s deals database. The value marked an increase of445.5% over the previous quarter and a rise of 34.7% whencompared with the last four-quarter average of $1.16bn.

The UK held a 9.9% share of the global power industry M&Adeal value that totaled $15.72bn in Q2 2020.

In terms of deal activity, the UK recorded 20 deals during Q22020, marking a flat growth over the previous quarter and adrop of 20% over the last four-quarter average.

The top three power industry M&A deals accounted for 79.2%of the overall value during Q2 2020.

The combined value of the top three power M&A deals stoodat $1.26bn, against the overall value of $1.56bn recorded forthe month.

UK’s Power Industry M&ADeals Total $1.56bn in Q2

State oilcompanyS a u d iA r a m c ohas dis-

covered two new oil and gas fields in the northern regions, thekingdom's energy minister said recently.

The energy minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman Al-Saud saidthe new Abraq al-Toloul oil field, which lies to the south east ofthe northern city of Arar, flows with a daily rate of 3,189 barrelsper day (bpd) of Arab light crude oil, along with 3.5 millioncubic feet of natural gas.

Hadabat al Hajara gas field in al-Jof region has a daily produc-tion rate of 16 million cubic feets of natural gas, along with1944 bpd of oil condensate, according to the minister.

Aramco will carry on with its efforts to estimate the total amountof oil andgas in thetwo fieldsand isdrilling morewells to de-termine theirareas andcapacities,he added.

Saudi Aramco Discovers TwoNew Oil, Gas Fields

Digital Signing Ceremony for the MoU on PtX in the MAN Energy Solutions

and Wasco Headquarters in Germany and Malaysia

6

Snapshot

September 16, 2020

Dhaka Power DistributionCompany (DPDB) Man-aging Director EngineerBikash Dewan has been

received as best CEO for power sector’s integrity award re-cently.

The Power Division under the Ministry of Power, Energy andMineral Resources has selected the best power distributioncompany every year for integrity award.

State Minister for Power and Energy Nasrul Hamid virtuallyjoined the award giving ceremony as the chief guest.

Power Division secretary Dr Sultan Ahmed handed over anintegrity award to Managing Director of Dhaka Power Distri-bution Company Limited (DPDC) Engineer Bikash Dewan forhis good performance.

Engineer Bikash Dewan has donated the money of the awardto DPDC Employment Welfare Fund.

DPDC MD ReceivesIntegrity Award

T h eBangladeshInves tmen tDevelopmentA u t h o r i t y(BIDA) inte-

grated the services of four power distribution companies intoits virtual one-stop service (OSS) for improving the ease ofdoing business in the country.

The four companies are Bangladesh Rural ElectrificationBoard (BREB), Dhaka Power Distribution Company (DPDC),Northern Electricity Supply Company Limited (NESCO) andWest Zone Power Distribution Company (WZPDCL).

In this regard, BIDA inked memorandums of understanding(MoU) with the four companies at a ceremony at its headquar-

ters in thecity recently.BIDA Execu-tive Chair-man MdSirazul Islamp r e s i d e dover thefunction.

BIDA Integrates Servicesof Four Power DistributionCompanies

Power divi-sion re-c e n t l yprovided six

hundred N-95 masks and one set of HFNC (High Flow NasalCannula) for public hospitals.

Power Division Secretary Sultan Ahmed handed over theequipment to Public Administration Secretary Sheikh YusufHaran.

Speaking on the occasion, Sultan Ahmed said that we havealready provided 25,000 kits and 50,000 PPEs to IEDCR aspart of social responsibility.

Around 800 N-95 masks and canola sets were handed overto the government employees’ hospitals and 14 sets of HFNChave already been handed over in Barisal division.

There are also 500 N-95 Masks for Kurmitola General Hospi-tal and Kuwait-Bangladesh Friendship Government Hospital.Public Administration Secretary Sheikh Yusuf said that theprocess of upgrading the 72-bed Covid government employ-ees’ hospitals to 500 beds is underway.

Power Div Provides Canola,Masks for Govt Employees

The employeesof SiemensBangladesh Lim-ited have do-nated their

one-day salary to support people facing the Covid-19 crisisas a gesture of solidarity with the underprivileged segmentof the society.

Siemens Bangladesh Limited handed over the donationcheque to Mr. Jakir Hossain FCCA, ACA, the Chief Finan-cial Officer of Bidyanondo Foundation recently.

The employees of Siemens Bangladesh Limited have do-nated their one-day salary to aid people facing the Covid-19 crisis as a gesture of solidarity with the underprivilegedsegment of the society.

This initiative is part of the global Siemens relief fund pro-gram that was set up under the auspices of the community-serving nonprofit organization Siemens Caring Hands e.V.to help combat the Covid-19 crisis.

Siemens Staff Donate1-Day Salary to SupportCovid-19 Crisis

8

Snapshot

September 16, 2020

Titas Gas Transmis-sion and Distribu-tion CompanyLimited authorityhas suspended its

four officials and four employees on charge of negligence totheir duties over the blast in a mosque in Narayanganj whichhas so far claimed 27 lives.

The suspended officials are: Titas’ Fatulla Region ManagerMohammad Sirajul Islam, Deputy Manager Mahmudur Rah-man Rabbi, Assistant Engineer SM Hasan Shahriar, AssistantEngineer Manik Mia, Senior Supervisor Mohammad ManiburRahman Chowdhury, Senior Developer Ayub Ali and Support-staffs Mohammad Hanif Mia and Ismail Pradhan.

Deputy General Manager of Narayanganj Zone of the TitasGas Transmission and Distribution Company Mafizur Rahmanconfirmed the matter.

The authority also served show-cause notices on them, hesaid.

8 Titas Gas Officials,Employees SuspendedOver N’ganj Blast

S t a t e - r u nPetrobangla inkeda deal with HongKong and Shang-hai Banking Cor-poration Limited,

or HSBC, recently to ensure payment of bills for importedLNG, or liquefied natural gas, in due time.

The deal with the HSBC is titled 'Clean Import Loan, or CIL,in United States Dollar, or USD.'

Petrobangla Chairman A B M Abdul Fattah presided over thedeal signing ceremony at Petrocentre, where chief executiveofficer, or CEO, of HSBC Md. Mahbubur Rahman was thechief guest.

Currently, Bangladesh has been importing lean LNG underlong-term deals from Qatar's RasGas, which has recentlymerged with Qatargas and is renamed as Qatargas, and theOman Trading International, or OTI, of Oman.

The country started regular imports of LNG on September 9,2018.

Bangladesh will initiate importing LNG, or liquefied naturalgas, from spot market from next month to rip the benefit oflow price of the fossil fuel in international market.yCurrently, two FSRUs, owned by US-based Excelerate Energyand local Summit Group, are re-gasifying around 600 millioncubic feet per day, or mmcfd, of LNG.

Petrobangla Inks LoanDeal with HSBC to PayLNG Import Bills

Leading power en-gineering companyEnergypac PowerGeneration Ltd hasrecently handedover total 16 units

of “YC Diesel” Marine Propulsion Engine with Marine Gearboxto Bashundhara Steel and Engineering Ltd.

The concern of Bashundhara Group received the engines fortheir 8 cargo ships under the project titled “RINA Classified4800 DWT”.

The deal has solidified the relationship between the two industrygiants, opening brighter prospects for their future ventures.

On this note, Managing Director and CEO (Chief Executive Of-ficer) of Energypac Power Generation Ltd Mr. Humayun RashidChowdhury said, “We believe in partnerships that bring forthprosperity beyond individual interests. Both Energypac andBashundhara are working tirelessly for betterment in larger in-dustrial aspects to help Bangladesh attain a proud space in theglobal scenario. Thanks to Bashundhara Group for extendingtheir hands to us.”

The engines delivered for the project are of the model -YC8CL1400L-C20. 1400HP, 1000RPM.

Energypac Delivers16 Marine PropulsionEngine to Bashundhara

The High Courthas directed theBangladesh EnergyRegulatory Com-

mission (BERC) to take steps to prevent sellers from increasingthe price of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).

An HC bench comprising Justice Obaidul Hassan and JusticeAKM Zahirul Huq passed the order recently.

At the same time, the court also directed BERC to submit a re-port regarding their initiatives taken complying with the order

within the next 30 days.

The court passed theorder in response to a pe-tition filed by Barrister Jy-otirmoy Barua on behalfof the Consumer Associa-tion of Bangladesh (CAB).

Control LPG Price Hike,HC Asks BERC

9

Cover

September 16, 2020

Is Bangladesh shifting power generationaway from coal? The talks are going onamong the opinion leaders and experts

whether the country should go aheadwith the plan to set up coal-based powerplants. They reached almost a consensusthat the plants which are already in theiradvanced stage of implementation will becontinued, but the ones at their initialstage of planning should be stopped bynow. State Minister for Power, Energy andMineral Resources Nasrul Hamid in apost-budget discussion organized by Cen-tre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) in June thisyear hinted the possibility to consideringLNG-based power projects by replacingthe coal power projects in the pipeline.

Though thegovernment isyet to take anyinitiative tillnow to reviewthe plannedfuel mix op-tions or usingLNG, Centre orPolicy Dia-logue (CPD) ata recent con-ference sug-g e s t e dconsidering re-newable en-ergy, instead ofLNG, as an al-ternative to re-place the coalpower plants. The government has notalso taken any decision yet to reviewthe Power System Master Plan (PSMP)2016. However, as the PSMP is re-viewed every five years, the presentPSMP 2016 is scheduled to be re-viewed in 2021 and the process wouldtake the entire year. Till the scheduledreview is completed and approved, theexisting fuel mix as prescribed in thePSMP 2016 would continue — coal andgas (LNG and natural gas) would con-tribute 35% each and nuclear, fuel oil,renewable and imported electricitywould contribute 30%.

Meanwhile, the government hasformed a high-powered committee,headed by the Chairman ofBangladesh Power DevelopmentBoard (BPDB), for reviewing the possi-ble impacts of the COVID-19 pan-demic on implementation of the megapower projects. The committee has al-ready started working in this regard.

The practice of formulating and imple-menting the PSMP with generation tar-get and fuel mix had started from1995. But the experience over the last25 years also evidenced that thePSMPs have not been meticulously fol-lowed. The PSMP is formulated everytime taking into consideration theglobal fuel supply situation, domesticfuel availability, economic growth pat-

tern and the government’s policies forindustrial development. After everyfive years, the government strategy isadjusted with the changed global sce-nario. In PSMP 2010, coal was consid-ered as the least cost fuel option inconsideration of its local availabilityand global market. The contribution ofthe coal was prescribed as 50% of theplanned 40,000 MW of power gener-ation capacity by 2030. Local coal wasgiven the highest priority. The contri-bution of LNG and natural gas wasconsidered as 25%. The contributionof nuclear power, renewables and im-port would be 15% and liquid fuel10%.

The government had adopted thePSMP 2016 after reviewing the PSMP2010, but the approval process took avery long time. Engr. Mizanur Rahman,former member of Bangladesh EnergyRegulatory Commission (BERC) whowas associated with the formulationprocesses of the PSMPs from 1995 to2016, informed the EP that in the en-deavor for confronting prevailing andemerging power crisis, contracts fortoo many power generation projectswere concluded beyond the pre-scribed provisions of PSMP 2010under the short, medium and long-term power generation initiatives. Noalternatives were left other than inclu-sion of all these during the formulation

of the PSMP2016. Actually,there was noscope foradding anynew powerg e n e r a t i o nprojects up to2025. But dueto the oversup-ply situation ofLNG in globalmarket and thegovernment ’sdilemma overexploiting owncoal reserve,the strategicdecision wastaken with

35% contribution of LNG and gas andthe contribution of coal was shelved to35% from 50%. Almost the entire coalcontribution was considered to comefrom import. The cost of LNG-basedpower was about Tk 2.0 per unithigher than the coal power at thattime. But due to the continuation ofdomestic fuel supply crisis, Bangladeshhad to come out of mono-fuel energygeneration strategy and depend in-creasingly on imported fuel.

The installed capacity of grid con-nected power is 20,383 MW. Besidesthis, there is about 2,800 MW of off-grid captive generation. Some 54%(40% grid power and 16% captivepower) of the total gas produced by thePetrobangla companies and IOCs-op-erated gas fields are used for powergeneration. The fuel mix situation evi-dences that gas-based 53.86% (10,979MW), furnace oil 27.17% (5,540 MW),diesel 6.33% (1,290 MW), power im-port from India 5.69% (1,160 MW),coal 5.62% (1,146 MW), hydro power1.13% (230 MW) and grid-connectedsolar 0.19% (39 MW). The total liquidfuel-based generation capacity is33.50% (6,830 MW). The governmenthas a plan to reduce this capacity to5% by 2041.

In financial year 2018-19, the totalgeneration was 70,533 Giga Watt

11September 16, 2020

Excelerate Energy’s FSRU Summit LNG began operations at the Summit LNG Terminal in April 2019 at Mo­

heshkhali Island in the Bay of Bengal, the terminal is owned by Summit LNG Terminal Co Ltd

Hour. Of this, 68.50% was gas based,16.20% furnace oil, 9.60% import,2.90% diesel, coal 1.70%, hydro1.00% and renewable 0.10%. In 2019-20, the total generation marginally in-creased to 71,417 GWH. Of this,71.91% was gas based, 13.19% fur-nace oil, 9.30% import, 0.19% diesel,4.18% coal, 1.15% hydro and 0.09%renewable. During the use of in-creased gas and less liquid fuel, the av-erage generation cost reduced.

In 2009, the generation cost of powerwas Tk 2.19 per unit. In 2019, it has in-creased to Tk 6.25 per unit. But the op-erating loss of BPDB has increased asthe bulk power tariff did not increasecommensurate with the increase ingeneration cost. The retail price ofpower, however, continued to rise. Forindustries, the captive power has be-come attractive than that of the gridpower considering the cost.

As per the current plan, the coal powerplants are 22 in number. The totalplanned capacity would be 23,236MW. Fifteen of these plants under pub-lic sector would have total capacity of18,664 MW and 7 in private sectorwould have 4,572 MW capacity. Ofthese, only 2 units of Payra powerplant of 1,320 MW capacity are nowin a position to generate power. An-other 1,320 MW of Rampal powerplant is sched-uled to come inc o m m e r c i a loperation byend 2021. The1,200 MW Ca-pacity Matar-bari Powerplant maycome into op-eration in2024. The sec-ond 1,320 MWPayra powerplant is ex-pected to comeinto operationbefore then.The construc-tion work for

this plant is now advancing. The totalinstalled capacity of coal power plantnow is 1,845 MW.

The price of LNG in the global marketis at all time lowest level due to theCOVID-19. Some experts believe thatthis trend may continue for some time.They suggested the government to in-crease LNG dependence to replace theexisting trend of growing big in coalpower. As per the PSMP 2016, theplanned LNG-based power generationcapacity by 2041 is 12,155 MW from10 power plants. The present gas-based power generation capacity is11,000 MW. But for gas supply con-straints, the actual gas-based genera-tion is confined to 8,500 MW. If thepresent plan of the government is im-plemented by 2030, the own gas andimported LNG-based generationwould increase to 42% of the total ca-pacity, meaning about 20,000 MW. Ifall the planned coal power plants areimplemented by then, the contributionof coal would become maximum15%.

According to BPDB information, it ap-peared that even after converting allgas-based power plants to fuel-efficientmodern plants, the total gas demandfor power generation would be 3,000MMCFD in 2041. The Gas SystemMaster Plan forecasts for 6,000

MMCFD gas demand in 2041 consid-ering the base load. Bangladesh wouldrequire importing 70 million tonnes ofcoal annually for catering to the de-mand for power generation. Now thequestion arises whether it is possible toset up infrastructure for importing re-quired quantity of coal and LNG.

If 10,000-15,000 MW of the plannedcoal power capacity has to convertinto LNG-based generation, an addi-tional 1,600-2,400 MMCFD of gas willbe required by 2041. The present co-incident demand of gas now is about4,000 MMCFD. The maximum capac-ity of supply from own source and im-ported LNG is 3,700 MMCFD. It isexpected that by 2025 at least oneland-based LNG terminal may comeinto commercial operation at Matar-bari. It may start with 1,000 MMCFDcapacity and by 2030 it may grow to2,000 MMCFD. Some experts ob-served that the capacity of MatarbariLNG terminal can be increased to3,000 MMCFD. If that is possible, thehighest LNG import capacity by 2030would be 4,000 MMCFD, includingthe 1,000 MMCFD capacity of the twoFSRUs at Maheshkhali. On the otherhand, it is apprehended that the pro-duction from own gas fields may com-pletely deplete by 2031 if no major gasfield is discovered and brought into

production bythat time. Thefeasibility stud-ies for land-based LNGterminals inother areas ofB a n g l a d e s hcoast and is-lands did notproduce anypositive result.This has cre-ated consider-able doubt asto whether re-quired LNGsupply con-tributing to

12September 16, 2020

330 Mw Combined Cycle Power Plant, Shahajibazar, Sylhet

35% from owngas and LNGfor plannedpower genera-tion target of2041 wouldbe at all possi-ble. Thenagain, if someadditional ca-pacity of LNG-based power isconsidered toreplace theplanned coal-based genera-tion, whereand how theLNG or gaswould comefrom? Every-one knows from the findings of the MetOcean surveys that the FSRUs for tidalnature of the Bay of Bengal may notoperate at least 87 days per year. Amidthis concern, Prime Minister SheikhHasina has already directed the au-thorities concerned not to set up FSRUanymore.

Experts insisted that the power demandprojected in the PSMP was not accu-rate. Consequently, implantation of toomany power plants one after anothercaused considerably large volume ofpower generation capacity remainingidle. This has put the governmentunder severe financial stress, requiringfrequent increase of power tariff. Fewtermed this as flawed planning. ButEngr. Mizanur Rahman having his longassociation with the power systemplanning stressed on the fact that therewas no mistake at all in the PSMP pro-jection of power demand. Accordingto him, the projected demand for gridpower in 2019 and 2020 were12,5000 MW and 13,500 MW respec-tively. The debate over capacity hasbeen triggered from the governmentdecision of adding 3,000 MW addi-tional furnace oil and diesel-basedgeneration over the past two years,going beyond the PSMP prescription.But BPDB Chairman Engr Belayet Hos-

sain observed that the system wouldhave to suffer from major power loadshedding if it has not been done. About2,500 MW gas-based power genera-tion capacity remains idle for the gassupply constraints.

Prof Dr M Tamim, special assistant tothe chief advisor of former caretakergovernment, observed that consideringthe projected GDP growth as basis forthe power demand growth projectionwas a mistake. Hence, the generationgrowth must be brought under controlthrough reviewing the PSMP by now.In view of the situation in 2020, it canbe assumed that the demand cannotgrow beyond 32,000 MW or 37,000MW in 2030.

Prof Dr Ijaz Hossain, Dean of Chemi-cal Engineering Faculty of BUET, saidthat the lack of industrial growth is themain reason for not increasing thepower demand. He suggested not toproceed with any new imported coal-based power projects barring those re-main at the advanced stages ofimplementation. He also suggested set-ting up of mine-mouth coal powerplants, exploiting and utilizing owncoal. At the same time, he suggestedgiving high priority to import of LNG.

Engr. Khaled Mahmood, former Chair-man of BPDB found no reason for re-

viewing thepower genera-tion planunder thePSMP 2016 asyet. Accordingto him, by2030 about7,000 MW ca-pacity plantswould be re-tired in phases.That is why thediversity hasbeen providedfor the plannedfuel mix so thatthe situationfor interruptionto energy secu-rity is avoided.

There is no scope for changing the fuelmix abruptly now.

Recently, the CPD in a research haswelcomed the thoughts of replacingthe coal power generation projects inthe pipeline with LNG. At the sametime, they also pointed out the reduc-ing trend of cost of renewable powergeneration. According to them, thecost now has dropped below the coalpower in some cases. They suggestedthat renewable power must be consid-ered with greater priority than LNG forreplacing coal power generation proj-ects in the pipeline. CPD Research Di-rector Dr Golam Moazzem admittedthat the matter requires further exten-sive study.

In conclusion, there is nothing wrongin reviewing the generation plan, de-mand projection and fuel mix. Such re-view in New Normal World followingthe COVID-19 pandemic is essential.But going exclusively on LNG, consid-ering coal as dirty fuel, may leadBangladesh again to the tricky mono-fuel dependency. Adding own primaryfuel like gas and coal in the fuel mixbasket would give great comfort toBangladesh in achieving longer termenergy security. That is expected to en-sure supplying power at affordablecost.

13September 16, 2020

EP

335 MW combined­cycle electricity generation plant in Siddhirganj

It is now a reality that the COVID-19pandemic or any other cousin virusinfection is not going to be over soon.

World civilization is living with it andmay have to live for an indefinite periodalongside of some kind of pandemic.That is why talks are about new normalworld. All are aware about the signifi-cant impacts of the pandemic creatingoil market crash, depletion of global oilprice and price of other linked fuels. Onthe excuse of limiting global warming,talks also got popular about shiftingfrom fossil fuels to renewable sources.The environment activists and greengroups in different countries are relent-lessly pleading about exiting from coalmining and burning of coal for limitingcarbon emissions. Country likeBangladesh with limited primary fuel re-sources (natural gas and coal) and verylimited exploration and developmentinitiative had to diversify its fuel optionsbringing imported coal and LNG intofuel mix. Lack of political will for ex-ploiting own discovered superior qual-ity coal at mineable depth alsoleveraged Bangladesh going for severalmega imported fuel based power proj-ects. Bangladesh also initiated actionsfor imported LNG in the wake of deplet-ing scenario of proven recoverable gasreserve. Three large imported coalbased power projects, 2X660 MWPayra Power Plant at Patuakhali, 2x660MW Rampal power plant at Bagerhatand 2x600 MW Matarbari power plantat Cox’sbazar are now at advancedstage of implementation. In fact, Payrapower plant is already in commercialoperation. About a dozen more im-ported coal-based power projects are inthe pipeline. Bangladesh after pro-longed delays has managed to bringinto operation two 500 MMCFD capac-ities each Floating Storage and Regasifi-cation Units (FSRUs) off the coast atMaheshkhali. Given the pandemic cre-

ating oil market crash, global LNG mar-ket is over supplied. Spot market priceof LNG is at all time low level. On theexcuse of challenges for financial clo-sures, some discussions have started inBangladesh whether Bangladesh shouldslow down implementation of importedcoal based power plants in the pipelineand rather grow big in LNG basedpower generation. This write up will tryto realistically assess the situation inview of growth potential of LNG de-mand over medium term and long term,cost comparison of LNG based powergeneration with coal based ones (evenconsidering Ultra Super Critical Tech-nology and superior quality coal use).At the same time, we have to review thechallenges of setting up land based LNGterminals and coal import facilities.

Power Demand Supply ScenarioBangladesh government has done ex-ceptionally well in bringing 97.5% ofthe entire population under grid powersupply. The installed power generationcapacity of grid-connected power in-cluding 1160 MW import from India is20,383 MW. Given the plant factor,auxiliary power use and fuel supplydeficits, the effective generation capac-ity is about 16,500 MW. The highestgeneration of grid-connected power sofar achieved 12,893 MW on July 29,2019. If not the COVID pandemic wasthere, the power system could have ex-perienced power load shedding in theensuing summer for insufficient effectivegeneration capacity. About 6,500-6,800MW installed generation capacity is liq-uid fuel-based and a significant numberof ageing plants are fuel inefficient. Inthis scenario, the BPDB plan of addingabout 7,000 MW new generation fromimported coal, nuclear and gas/LNG ap-pears realistic. The government has aplan to reduce liquid fuel based power

generation to 5% by 2041. The PSMP2016 is now being revised. The presentsituation and emerging situation in newnormal world will definitely come intoactive consideration during formulation,discussion and approval of new PSMP.Not only the planned generation capac-ity ensuring comfortable spinning re-serve and realistic fuel mix will also beincluded in the fuel mix.

Challenges for Fuel ImportInfrastructures Bangladesh is a riverine delta. Most ofBangladesh rivers originating from Indiaand Nepal have crisscrossedBangladesh before meeting the Bay ofBengal in the south. These rivers are car-rying enormous amount of silt that havemade Bangladesh coastal areas shallow.Bangladesh does not have a deep seaport. It does not have realistically anyseaport. All three ports at Chottogram,Mongla and Payra are actually river portsituated near the sea. The 5-7 meters ofdraft at Bangladesh ports cannot provideaccess to coal ships and LNG vessels.Coal for Payra power plant is now beingtransported in half-filled PANAMAX allthe way from Indonesia making addi-tional transportation cost an element forhigher than expected cost of generation.

Import of CoalCurrently, three alternatives are beingconsidered for long-term coal trans-portation options for the present and thefuture coal based power plants at Payra.

Option-1: Bringing Supramax vessels with full loadand do lightering in the deep seaSupramax vessel would carry 50,000 to60,000 MTs of loads and 50-60% of thecargo will be discharged on lighter ves-sels in the deep sea. Later, both themother vessel and the lighter vessel cancome into the channel and take berth tothe plant jetty. This is considered as aneconomic and practical solution to theproblem, except for monsoon season(May-September) when it is challengingto do lighterage in the open sea andtakes longer time than expected due tothe rough sea conditions.

Option-2: Bringing partially loaded Supramax ves-

15

Cover Article

September 16, 2020

Energy Generation Plan in NewNormal Bangladesh

Saleque Sufi

sels directly toplant jettyBased on the draftof the Rabnabadchannel, partiallyloaded Supramaxcan be brought toplant jetty in allseasons unlessthere is a Forcemajeure eventsuch as cyclonesor floods. Coaltransportation costwould be higher. Itwould not be eco-nomic for long dis-tance sources likeAustralia. How-ever, it is a goodsolution for bring-ing coal fromnearer sources likeIndonesia.

Option-3:Developing floating transhipment facil-ity in a sheltered placeIt would be suitable for large vessels likeCapesize or Panamax from long dis-tance sources like Australia, SouthAfrica, Mozambique, etc. Nearby shel-tered areas are Matarbari, Andaman,

Dhamra (Odisha) or Singapore. WhenMatarbari port is operational with largeenough capacity Coal Transhipment Ter-minal that facility can be used.

Similar situation would emerge for coaltransportation for Rampal power plant.The Matarbari Power plant will be theonly ideal plant in the sense that a coalport is also being developed near the

plant linking the terminal with deep seawith a 14km long 18-meter deep 250-meter wide canal. In future, if theplanned 40 M tonne annual capacitycoal transfer terminal can be set up, itcan feed several plants at Matarbari,Maheskhlali and other locations.

Japanese government has given finan-cial assistance for 2X660 MW Matarbari

Power plant andcoal port. Now thegovernment mustnegotiate new fi-nancing with ei-ther Japan of otherinvestors for alarge capacity coaltransfer terminal asMatarbari wouldturn into a suitablelocation for that in2-3 years. Withcoal transportationchallenges eased,there should be amajor problem forencouraging fi-nance for somemore importedcoal based HighEfficiency LowEmission (HELE)coal power plant

16September 16, 2020

A night vision of Payra thermal power plant

A view of a Supramax vessels

in Bangladesh.

Import of LNGBangladesh conceived LNG import planin 2010 and it took them 8 long years toimplement setting up of the first 500MMCFD capacity first FSRU off the Ma-heshkhali coast. Subsequently, another500 MMCFD capacity FSRU was alsoset up beside it. The initiatives for sev-eral other FSRUs and few land-basedLNG terminals were shelved after wast-ing time, energy and efforts. Some illog-ical initiatives were also there for twosmall scale FSRUs at CUFL and KAFCOwithout any prior thought of consideringunhindered access of LNG vesselsthrough congested Chittagong port entryand safety of the region. After extensivetechno-economic feasibility study, onlysuitable location for a land-based LNGterminal has been recommended atMatarbari. No interest has been ob-served yet from any major investors fora land-based terminal there yet. It willbe possible for setting up two 1,000MMCFD LNG terminal at Matrabari.From global experience, it can be as-sumed that it may take at least 4-5 yearsfor any major company for making suchplant operational. The Matrabari linkcanal and the site for the construction ofLNG terminal may not be ready to startworking before 2023. Hence, the real-istic time for importing maximum 2,000MMCFD of LNG using Matarbari termi-nal is 2028. We are not discussing anyland based LNG terminal facility atPayra or any other places. A feasibilityreport by JICA clearly underlined thechallenges for setting up land basedLNG terminal at Payra. It is highly un-likely that any land based LNG terminalwould be set up there in the foreseeablefuture.

What Will Be the Gas SupplySituation by 2030? The present production capacity ofBangladesh gas fields is 2,500 MMCFD.The capacity of two FSRUs is 1,000MMCFD. We are aware that from 2000-2019 about 13 Tcf gas from the provenrecoverable reserve has been consumedagainst that of only a little over 2Tcf ofnew reserve added. The State Ministerfor Energy on few occasions has statedthat at the present rate of gas use, the re-

maining recoverable reserve may becompletely depleted by 2031 unless re-plenished by new discoveries. The pres-ent state of exploration in the potentialoffshore areas does not give any expec-tation that fruits from any major offshoreexploration can be expected before2030. At this moment, it is highly un-likely that any major IOC would re-spond to the PSC bidding round in theoffshore. For the sake of discussion, letus assume that Petrobangla lets out PSCbidding in January 2021 and concludessome PSCs by the end of 2021. Eventhen pre-exploration, exploration anddevelopment, transmission to onshoremay take at least up to 2030. By thattime, lets say national production ca-pacity reaches 1,000 MMCFD withsome onshore exploration success (veryremote). By 2030, we do not believethat Bangladesh can import more than2,000 MMCFD of additional LNG usingthe planned land based LNG terminal atMatarbari. In that situation, total maxi-mum gas availability in the national gridmay be (1,000 MMCFD (Own Gas) +1,000 MMCFD present LNG + 2,000MMCFD New LNG) 4,000 MMCFD.What will be the demand of gas at thattime if some industries at 100 new Spe-cial Economic Zones are up and run-ning?

In the above situation any suggestion toslow down or suspend coal basedpower projects implementation wouldcreate crisis. The government wouldhave to rationally work out fuel mix topower generation keeping all optionsopen. However, appreciating coal trans-portation challenges to places otherthan Matarbari, the planned coal basedplants at Matarbari, Moheshkhali,Bashkhali areas should be given priority.Deeply appreciating the LNG importchallenges and better economic valueadded use of gas to energy-efficient in-dustries, Bangladesh must not fall intothe trap of growing big in LNG topower.

The myths of coal power creating emis-sions must have been proved wrong bythis time. The commercial operation ofUltra Super Critical Technology usingPayra power plant is an example howtechnology addresses emissions con-

cerns. Bangladesh must now take deci-sion to exploit own coal resources andset up 5,000-10,000 MW coal basedpower plants at mine mouth in thegreater Rangpur and Dinajpur areas.Coal power plants unlike gas-basedpower plants are base load ones. Ifproperly maintained any modern coalbased power plants may retain effi-ciency up to 50 years (example NRGPower Plant at Gladstone, Queensland).On The other hand, gas based powerplants lose efficiency quicker than coalbased power plants.

Prices of Coal and LNGPandemic impacted pricing of coal andLNG must not be any basis for changingoptions for fuel mix by Bangladesh.Price of coal in global market has alsodepleted like gas and LNG. The presentmarket saturation of gas and LNG maynot last more than a year or so. Hugedemand for LNG in China, Japan,Korea, India and Taiwan will make gasand LNG price bringing back to pre-COVID situation from 2022.Bangladesh for lack of storage facilitiescould not import and store LNG fromcheaper global spot market. It could notalso negotiate any contract on futurepurchase basis. Bangladesh cannot setup any land based LNG terminal before2026 even if they start in 2021. On theother hand, coal based power plants atPayra has already started commercialgeneration. Rampal and Matarbariplants may be put into commercial op-eration by 2023. If Bangladesh can ne-gotiate finance for the planned coaltransfer terminal at Matarbari soon, allplanned coal based plants at Matarbari,Moheshkhali would have assured sup-ply of coal by 2030. Price of coal underproperly negotiated contracts would re-main within reach for ensuring powergeneration at affordable cost.

Let us be very rational in adopting fuelmix and not get misguided from unedu-cated guess of anti-coal activists.

Saleque Sufi;Contributing Editor, EP

17September 16, 2020

EP

Waste to Energy (WTE) is anywaste treatment process inwhich energy is generated in

the form of electricity, heat or transportfuels usually from municipal solid waste(MSW). If sustainable solid waste man-agement (SWM) was a tree, WTE wouldsit in the middle, having recycling at thetop, while landfilling at the bottom of it.WTE began as a means of waste volumereduction that would minimize waste’sharmful effects on human health andenvironment although now energy re-covery has become the key focus ofWTE.

WTE contributes to the reduction ofGHG emission in three ways. First,while generating electrical power orsteam, WTE curbs on CO2 emissioncompared to fossil fuel-based electricitygeneration. Second, WTE eliminates allmethane emissions from landfills, war-ranting its potential release in future.Third, the recovery of ferrous and non-ferrous metals by WTE is more energy-efficient thanbeing pro-duced fromnew raw ma-terials. Ingeneral, WTEis a hygienicmethod ofdealing withwaste reduc-ing its vol-ume byaround 90%.D e n m a r kand Swedenare globalleaders in thisas they recy-cle almost allthe wastethey pro-duce; they

even import waste from other EU na-tions. Typically, there are two ap-proaches for WTE process. First is thebiochemical approach, which accountsfor about 18% of market share, andwhich deals with organic fraction ofwaste (through Fermentation, Biometha-nation etc. producing biogas, ethanoletc.). Whereas the second one — theThermochemical approach, accountsfor the remaining 82% of market shareand deals with the dry fraction of waste(through Gasification, Pyrolysis, Incin-eration producing fuel gas, bio oil,biochar etc.).

The quality, quantity and the rate ofMSW generation vary across nationsand economies. There is a positive cor-relation between the increases inGNI/standard of living with higher MSWgeneration. In 2012, the total volume ofwaste generation was around 1.3 billiontonnes, which should increase up to 2.2billion tonnes by 2025. Presently, Southand East Asia produce 33% of total

MSW generated in the world. SouthAsia alone should see an 80% increasein its per capita waste generation by2025, compared to 2012 figures. Similarshould be experienced by Bangladeshtoo, as we are aiming to become middleincome country by 2021. The problemof dealing with these wastes will makethe job of governments and urban man-agers quite challenging if that has notbeen obvious already. And it will takeplace not only in the prime cities likeDhaka and Chattogram, but will be ex-perienced even worse by smaller cities.

In this light, I would like to discuss thepotentials these waste hold for us, espe-cially in terms of WTE. In doing so, myfocus will be on the prospects of WTEfor the smaller cities in Bangladesh, es-pecially Khulna as it is experiencing typ-ical socio-economic and environmentalchallenges dealing with MSW. But be-fore that, I will shed some light on les-sons that we could learn from similarexperiences, especially from our neigh-bors in South and South East Asia. Andalthough we do not have much experi-ence of WTE in Bangladesh, some localefforts will still be highlighted and dis-cussed.

In South-East Asia, the Thai governmenthas for long subsidized and providedtax incentives for WTE plants (e.g. for in-

c inera t ion,gasification,fermentationand landfillgas capture).Their in-stalled ca-p a c i t yc u r r e n t l ystands at2 0 3 M W ,which islikely to growup to500MW. Butowing to alack of wastesorting atsource, incin-eration plantsperform lessefficiently. InI n d o n e s i a ,

19

Special Article

September 16, 2020

Indian Railway’s First Waste­to­energy Plant in Bhubaneswar

Waste to Energy: Prospects forSmaller Cities in Bangladesh

Professor Sheikh Serajul Hakim

similar challenges prevail. Despite highgovernment support for WTE and a bio-mass and WTE target of 810MW by2025, few projects could be imple-mented. This was further complicatedby serious public dissent against incin-eration-based projects. China, fueled byits eco-technological capabilities, andwith the support of its quite unique po-litical economy has, however, madecertain progress in making use of waste-water and other organic matters to pro-duce biogas. Yet, most of its electricitycomes from waste incineration. China’splants, however, were initially devel-oped as a solution to SWM, with energybeing a byproduct. Generally, three les-sons can be learnt from South East Asia.One, incineration, can at best beviewed as a short-term solution toSWM. And for incinerators to be themost efficient, an effective waste sortingsystem is a precondition. Two, movingbeyond typical incineration and tryingout a mix of mechanisms is essential forsustainable Operation & Maintenanceof WTE plants. Some 46 cities in Chinaare currently experimenting with differ-ent combination of methods for SWM tobecome Zero Waste. Three, for beingincineration-dependent, China is alsofacing serious environmental degrada-tions. A strategic combination of tradi-tional incineration with other gas-basedWTE plants is needed, while keepingoptions open to future technologies.

South Asian nations have a history ofdependence upon a single (fuel) sourcefor their electricity. This includes India(67.9% Coal), Nepal (99.9% Hy-dropower), Bangladesh (91.5% NaturalGas) and Sri Lanka (50.2% Oil). Apartfrom India (5%) and Sri Lanka (1.2%),none depend on any renewable energysource for electricity generation. Indiahas set up 186 WTE projects for biogasand bioCNG production with 317MWcapacity. Only 5 are MSW-based andgenerate a total 66.5MW of electricitypresently. Noteworthy is that India’s ex-perience with WTE plants has not beenan encouraging one. With its first WTEplant established in 1987 in Delhi, theplant could run for just about 21 daysbefore it was shut down. In fact, out ofthe original 186, half have already been

shut down and the remaining are seri-ously questioned on their negative en-vironmental impacts.

Indian efforts to WTE, with its focus onpredominantly incinerator-based WTEplants, hence has not been successful.Three reasons can be highlighted here.One, India’s MSW has high moisturecontent (nearly 50%) and low calorificvalue (the amount of heat or energy pro-duced when waste is burnt). But MSWneeds to be free of moisture and have atleast 1,800 kcal/kg for self-sustainingcombustion. But most cities in India stillcollect unsegregated waste with highmoisture content. This quality of wasteis certainly not useful. Second, India’sWTE plants are still quite expensive de-spite subsidies up to 40% of the totalproject cost being injected. This in-cludes financial incentives provided bycentral government to ULBs (per MWfor supplying garbage free of cost toWTE sites) and land on long-term leaseat a nominal rent. Import duties (for ma-chineries) are also exempted, with addi-tional subsidies being provided forpromoting, coordinating and monitor-ing WTE projects. Yet, unit electricityproduction cost remains double com-pared to coal and solar-powered pro-duction cost. Third, there have beenrepeated cases violations of compli-ance, standardizations and mainte-nance by WTE plants; these elicitedheavy protests and court penalties.

In Bangladesh, power generation fromsolid waste were attempted many timesduring the past two decades. But nonesucceeded owing to a lack of coordina-tion among government agencies, ab-sence of policy support and costeffectiveness. Our first National EnergyPolicy 2005, aimed to warrant an envi-ronmentally sound sustainable energydevelopment programs, with due im-portance on renewable energy. It alsovowed to encourage public and privatesector participation in the developmentand management of energy sector. TheRenewable Energy Policy of 2008 con-sidered biomass and biogas to besourced from MSW. MSW was consid-ered as a key source for future renew-able energy. In 2012, the governmentestablished the Sustainable and Renew-

able Energy Development Authority(SREDA) — the agency for EE&C and re-newable energy development. It vowedto boost renewable energy generationand achieve a 5% power generationfrom renewable sources by 2015 and10% by 2021. Bangladesh currently hasan installed renewable energy capacityof 411MW. But until now, only IDCOL’soff grid home solar system (221MW by2021) is the sole notable success in thissector. But solar system is less preferredby the government and policymakerspresently, since solar-powered projectsneed large areas (3.5-4 acres/MW),which is certainly not a good option fora land-scarce nation. On the otherhand, Geothermal, Hydro and Wind arelesser feasible sources due to our geo-graphical variables.

In 2015, SREDA requested GIZ, the Ger-man Development CooperationAgency, to conduct a detailed feasibilitystudy and identify prospective WTE so-lutions. Based on its feasibility study, itrecommended Dry Fermentation(Anaerobic Digestion, which generateboth electricity and heat) as the most vi-able solution for Keraniganj WTE proj-ect taking account of the particularcomposition of local MSW. The con-densate from biogas could also be usedfor composting. It was suggested that a4-5MW electricity plant could be builtat Keraniganj using government’s ownfund and BPDB-owned land. However,recent reports show that the governmentmoved away from this since tenderer’squoted amount (200 crore) was morethan double the estimated amount (lessthan 100 crore). And per unit of electric-ity would cost around tk 37-50.

After this failed attempt, the governmentaimed to involve private companies todo a pilot project, in which the com-pany would invest in it entirely, whilethe government would only purchaseelectricity from it. The present thinkingamong the government is that WTEprojects need to be considered integralto SWM, where electricity would be abyproduct instead of being the mainproduct. Currently, the LGD is aimingfor a WTE project in coordination withthe Power Division. Private sector willbe involved here too. But despite its

20September 16, 2020

drawbacks and contrary to the policy-thinking, incineration, once again,came back and is being considered asthe preferred method to producing elec-tricity.

In a 2017 SREDA study in six munici-palities in Bangladesh (Mymensingh,Cox’s Bazar, Sirajganj, Dinajpur, Habi-ganj and Jashore), it was found thatMSW contained high wet organic frac-tion (approx. 70-91%). The MSW wastoo moist (moisture content around57%-67%), with very low calorificvalue — unsuited for incineration or gasi-fication, requiring pretreatment (sortingand drying). This finding had vital sig-nificance in appropriate WTE methodselection. Incineration, as a method,was instantly stricken off, while gasifica-tion and anaerobic digestion, it recom-mended, required further analysis.Ultimately, anaerobic digestion waschosen as the most feasible option, al-though, its financial viability was stillquestionable.

Khulna, the third largest city inBangladesh, and home to 1.2million,produces around 450 tonnes ofMSW/day. Here recycling, compostingand landfilling account for 9.1%, 4.4%and 86.5% respectively of the totalmanaged waste. This, however, doesnot account for the tonnes of wastedumped into its open drains. This be-havior of Khulna citizens, for the pastdecade, gave birth to an unprecedentedlevel of urban waterlogging. Notwith-standing the other perils associated withlandfilling, this can be regarded as oneof the key reasons why SWM is requiredfor cities like Khulna. On top of this, the5MW-10MW that could possibly begenerated from Khulna’s waste, couldmake valuable addition to the nation’sgrowing need for electricity.

Per capita waste generation inBangladesh is 0.56kg/day (30,000tonnes in total) which, by 2030, shouldincrease to 0.78kg/day. To generate1MW of electricity, 80-100 tonnes (net50 tonnes organic) of waste will be re-quired. With increasing awarenessabout WTE, new opportunities for theindustry is emerging (Zero Waste Masterplan published by Zero Waste Europe is

a useful resource). Investors are alsolooking for new opportunities too. GoBhas also provisioned financial incentivesto promote market-based pricing systemincluding subsidies, preferential taxa-tion and low interest financing. Betterpractices are also abound. Many coun-tries have shifted to gasification andplasma pyrolysis — the more technicallyand financially viable alternatives to in-cineration. The three regions — NorthAmerica, Europe and Asia, which oncerelied heavily on incineration are nowattempting to minimize waste genera-tion and maximize recycling. In Goa,the State SWM Cell has successfully setup a biomethanisation-to-electricityplant to treat 40 tonnes of wet waste toproduce 0.2—0.3 MW of electricity. Inall cases, WTE, it appears, is not the pri-mary choice to MSW management.WTE can, at best, be an option for afraction of the waste that are unmanage-able by other methods. But it can cer-tainly work wonder when integratedWTE plants could produce energy, mit-igate CO2 emission and take care of ourMSW. Especially for our resource-poor

and climate-vulnerable smaller cities,WTE certainly promises these. The sumof their eco-environmental contributionever so little that maybe, would makethe whole thrive.

Sheikh Serajul Hakim, PhDProfessor, Architecture Discipline,Khulna UniversityEmail: serajulhakim@gmail.com

Glossary of Terms:1. GHG - GreenHouse Gas2. GNI - Gross National Income3. MW - Megawatt4. SWM - Solid Waste Management5. SEA - South East Asia6. O&M - Operation and Maintenance7. ULBs - Urban Local Bodies (govern-ments)8. IDCOL - Infrastructure DevelopmentCompany Limited9. EE&C- Energy Efficiency and Conser-vation10. LGD - Local Government Depart-ment, GoB

21September 16, 2020

Report

China is on track to surpass the U.S.as the world's top producer of nu-

clear energy as early as 2030, reflect-ing hesitance to build new capacity inJapan and Western nations even asemerging economies move ahead.

China's total nuclear power genera-tion capacity, including reactors underconstruction and in planning, came to108,700 megawatts as of April, morethan America's 105,120 MW, accord-ing to the World Nuclear Association,an industry group.

The trend reflects diverging ap-proaches to nuclear power after theMarch 2011 Fukushima meltdowns inJapan. While the U.S., Europe andJapan grew risk averse in response topublic fears, emerging nations havebeen keener.

Indonesia and Philippines are among

the countries dusting off old plans forreactors. And China and Russia haveemerged as the main suppliers.

China brought its first nuclear powerstation online only about threedecades ago, yet "in terms of its tech-nology level, it's caught up with themost advanced in the world," saidHideo Nakasugi, senior specialist atthe Japan Atomic Industrial Forum.

The U.S. still leads in terms of capac-ity in operation, with about 98,000MW. France follows at 62,000 MW,with China placing third at 45,000MW. But while the U.S. is decommis-sioning reactors with few new ones inthe pipeline to replace them, Chinahas 11 new reactors under construc-tion and more than 40 in the planningstages.

China to Overtake US in N-Energy by 2030

EP

EP

Aglobal virtual condolencemeeting was organised on 5September, 2020 in remem-

brance of late Mir Moinul Huq(Masud), an eminent geologist ofBangladesh. The meeting was partici-pated by more than a hundred geosci-entists, engineers, former colleagues,friends and family members. Partici-pants connected online from Aus-tralia, Japan, USA, Canada andBangladesh. The meeting was an-chored by Md. Jasim uddin, one of hisformer colleagues and fellow geolo-gist.

The overwhelming response and re-spect expressed by the participantsfrom all over the globe has demon-strated Mir Moinul Huq’s contributionto hydrocarbon exploration efforts andesteem he enjoyed among his com-munity and friends.

The inauguration of the meeting wasmoderated by Nazmul Hussain, Mir

Moinul Huq’s friend and class fellowwho joined from Houston. After open-ing remarks, he requested Md. Jamalud-din, former Managing Director of

BAPEX, to recite from holy Quran andconduct prayers for salvation of thedeparted soul.

Mortuza Ahmad Faruque, formerManaging Director of BAPEX, read outcondolence message on behalf of theattendees. A pictorial presentation wasmade by Mr. Jasim Uddin depictingMir Moinul’s academic background,professional career, memberships ofcoveted international professional or-ganisations, national and internationalseminars he attended, his contribu-tions in terms of publications and in-voking ‘State-of-the-Art’ technologiesand ‘out-of-the Box’ thinking. Thepresentation also acknowledged hisactive role in protecting national as-sets, including his stand in movementresisting Scimitar’s acquisition ofHaripur Oil Field.

Mir Moinul was an honest man, an iconof unshakable integrity. He was a thor-ough professional, dedicated to his

23

Special Report

September 16, 2020

Remembering a Legendary GeologistMortuza Ahmad Faruque

Mir Moinul Huq

work and motherland. He was a mentorfor many, who transformed them intofinest explorationists by golden touch.He possessed a soothing personality. Hissincere efforts in the development of oiland gas sector of the country will re-main as milestone. Finally, he will re-main among us as a living legend,inspiration to generations to come.

Following are excerpts from the meet-ing:

Naz HussainRetd. IT Administrator, NASA, USAMr. Nazmul Hussain, one of Mir MoinulHuq’s closest friends and class fellow re-counted their days as students of Geol-ogy at Dhaka University and days ascolleagues of OGDC. His eagerness tolearn something new, simplicity anddedication to his work was exceptional.He was a man of clear vision and val-ued his work over personal leisure. He

used to value and cherish his friendshipsand would invite his old friends at hisabode frequently.

Dr. John A. TALENTSydney, AustraliaOne of Mir Moinul Huq’s teachers morethan fifty years ago, now 87 years old,joining from Australia recollected himas one of his most attentive students. Hewas meticulous in his tasks and used towork very hard to complete assignmentswith perfection. He was learning some-thing all the time. He was super-brightin physics and mathematics as well asgeology. Moinul was a paragon of hon-esty, industriousness and thoughtfulnessand remained that way to the end.

A K M ShamsuddinFormer Secretary,Primary and Mass Education & Director,Hydrocarbon UnitHis interaction with Mir Moinul Huq as

a consultant to his organisation. He de-scribed Mr. Moinul as one of the mostknowledgeable person he met. He usedto do his work by himself and treat sub-ordinates as his family members. Hewas an ever-smiling personality whonever cared for any personal glory dur-ing or after accomplishment of any task.

Prof Dr. Badrul ImamDhaka UniversityMir Moinul Huq as a soft spoken andhumble person with full of passion foroil and gas exploration. He used to in-vite Geology students at wellsite andwould entertain questions and quarriesrelentlessly. We need to inculcate suchpersonality, which will be best tribute tohis memory.

Dr. Eunuse AkonEx-Geoscientist,Atomic Energy CommissionDr Akon recalled Mir Moinul Huq’s role

in establishment ofBangladesh Geological Soci-ety, which is now unfortu-nately dysfunctional. It willbe befitting way to show re-spect his memory by revivingthe activities of the society.

Mir Mofidul HuqWriter and a Trustee of Liber-ation War MuseumRecounted Mir Moinul Huq’srole as elder brother andguardian after death of theirfather. He was a silent workerand disliked any publicity, athorough professional and

24September 16, 2020

A K M Shamsuddin Prof Dr. Badrul Imam Dr. John A. TALENTNaz Hussain

Dr. Eunuse Akon Mortuza Ahmad FaruqueMir Mofidul Huq

patriot.

Mortuza Ahmad FaruqueFormer Managing Director, BAPEXHe worked as a lead member ofHydrocarbon Unit team and had agreat contribution in the assess-ment of re-estimation of country`sgas reserve and undiscovered hy-drocarbon resource potential onthe basis of individual leads andprospects. He contributed a lot inpreparing exploration and field de-velopment plan. He possessed ex-tensive knowledge about alldiscovered gas fields and regionalgeology. He was a very honest, ef-ficient, sincere and highly knowl-edgeable person of great integritywith full of commitment.

Mollah M Amzad HossainEditor, Energy & PowerIn his brief deliberation, recollected hisfirst meeting with Mir Moinul Huq innineties. He was unlike many of techni-cal persons, welcomed journalists andexplained technical matters in layman’stongue. He proposed that It will be be-fitting way to pay respect to his memoryby publishing a collection depicting hislife and achievements and he is ready tooffer any help in this regard.

Monzurul Huq (brother of Moinul Huq)Adjunct Professor, Tokyo University ofForeign Studies (from Japan), Ex Chief

Geologist, UMIC Md. Farid Uddin, Sab-bir Ahmed, a Retd. Petroleum Geologistof Petrobangla/Chevron, Mir FazlulKarim (from USA) Ex Director, GSB andKamrul Mannan Akash (from Australia).Ex. Geologist`s of Petrobangla, IftekharUllah (from USA) and Md. NazimAhmed (from Canada) also took part inthe meeting. Apart from Mahin Tabas-sum, Tazeen Tahsina and Aurin Huq,three daughter`s of Moinul Huq alsoparticipated.

Mir Moinul Huq had never looked backfor the praises for his great doings but

moved forward for the development ofenergy resources of the country andhelped his colleagues for achieving suc-cess in their lives. His patriotic contribu-tion to the nation is enormous and hededicated all his life very silently forbuilding an energy solvent Bangladesh.He earned love and respect from all ofhis subordinates for his clear mind ofsharing knowledge with all. He was avery simple and adorable person byheart. He never cared about his positionand personal gains. It is so unfortunatethat such a sincere and honest person

had to go behind the bar and suffermentally. He will be rememberednot only by us but by the entire na-tion.

Unanimously, it was felt by the at-tendees that his legacy warrants tobe protected and propagated to in-spire generations to come. A foun-dation/trust be created in hismemory to promote developmentin geoscience in the country andcapture his work culture & ethicsand to publish a booklet enshrin-ing his achievements and contentsof the condolence meeting.

Mortuza Ahmad Faruque;Energy Specialist &Former Managing Director, BAPEX

25September 16, 2020

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Mir Moinul Huq and his mother, sisters, brothers and their wives

Mir Moinul Huq and his mother, sisters, brothers and their wives

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September 16, 2020

Titas Gas Transmission andDistribution Company re-

cently conducted a baselinesurvey in its distribution areasand found that 35,000 oraround 6.2% of the 5.65 lakhgas risers were leaky.

Currently, the company hasaround 28.66 lakh con-sumers who are connected to12 lakh gas risers.

A riser is a length of verticallyoriented piping used to de-liver fluid, gas, or electricalsignals or power upward.

Some officials of the com-pany, on condition ofanonymity, said the situationof leakage in gas pipelines ismore severe.

Due to poor quality of equip-ment and unplanned under-ground installations,pipelines have huge leak-ages, they said.

A senior official said thecompany does not haveexact data on leakage in gasdistribution lines.

Titas Gas distribution lineshave become a death trap forcity dwellers due to leakages.A recent accident inNarayanganj that killed 28people panicked the peoplemore.

According to the fire depart-ment, around 30% of fire ac-cidents in the capital arehappening due to gaspipeline leaks.

Its data showed gas leakagewas responsible for about1,000 small and large fire ac-cidents last year.

However, Titas Gas claimedthere were only 208 fire ac-cidents in 2018-2019 againsta total of 5,876 gas leakagesin its distribution areas.

6.2% Titas Gas Risers Leaky

Amobile court recentlydisconnected around

1,000 illegal gas connectionsto households at Johor-chanda area of Ashulia inSavar.

Savar upazila administrationand zonal office of Titas GasTransmission and Distribu-tion Company Ltd in Savarjointly conducted the mobilecourt, according to Titas offi-cials.

The court removed illegalpipelines across two kilome-ters and cut off connections

to 1,000 households, said anofficer at Savar zonal office ofTitas.

Huge pipes and other materi-als were also seized duringthe drive, he said.

"Earlier, we had conducteddrives four times at this areaand disconnected lines, butduring the pandemic, theusers reinstalled them," headded. They filed a caseagainst some people thereover illegal connections.

1,000 Illegal Gas Lines Cut in Savar

Bangladesh-India Friend-ship Power Company

Limited (BIFPCL), the imple-menting agency of 1320megawatt coal-fired powerstation, has sought dutywaiver on import of brokenstones to be used in the con-struction of the mega powerproject.

In a recent letter to the powerdivision, BIFPCL informedthat NBR earlier issued twospecial orders to allow ex-emption of duties, VAT, SDon imported materials andmachinery for the Rampalproject.

BIFPCL has already imported1.2 million tonnes ofbroken stones out ofthe requirement of1.5 million tonnes.

BHEL, an EPC con-tractor of the plant, isimporting the stonefor constructing of theplant known as

Rampal Plant Seeks Duty Waiveron Broken Stone Import

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Maitree plant betweenBangladesh and India.Theimported item is awaiting re-lease at the land port.

However, the customs houseof Khulna has claimed thebroken stone is not in the ex-empted category under spe-cial order No. 373/655, theBIFPCL informed the powerdivision in the letter.

During the initial phase of

the project imports, problemsarose in duty-free importsand Advance Trade VAT(ATV) was also paid in fewcases. However, after contin-uous efforts, the NBR issuedtwo special orders exclu-sively for BIFPCL for exemp-tion of duties, VAT, SD onimport materials/machineryfor the project.

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September 16, 2020

Bangladesh Power Devel-opment Board (BPDB)

has incurred a loss of Tk36.92 billion in five monthssince March for selling elec-tricity at tariffs lower than thepurchase cost from rental,quick rental, independentpower plants and importfrom India.

“Electricity generation costdepends on fuel cost. But thedepreciation of Bangladeshitaka and a fall in the demandfor electricity amid the co-rona crisis have increased thecost of electricity,” state-runBPDB said in a letter to thePower Division at the end ofAugust.

The fixed cost of electricityhas increased due to a dropin demand for electricity,hike in gas price and a rise indollar rate against local cur-rency taka, the letter reads.

BPDB purchases electricityfrom rentals, quick rental, In-

d e p e n d e n tPower Produc-ers and importfrom India.

BPDB also spent Tk 1.86 bil-lion for electricity importfrom India at a higher pricedespite surplus electricitysupply at home due to asharp fall in demand amidthe corona outbreak.

An industrial expert saidBPDB imports electricity atTk 6-7 per unit.

“But the local power produc-ers can produce electricity ata cost of Tk 4-5 per unit if thegovernment doesn’t imposesupplementary duties ontheir fuel import. I think theduty on fuel import for elec-tricity is a conspiracy againstlocal producers,” the expertsaid on the condition ofanonymity.

The power plants of Indiahave been benefited by thedecision, he pointed out.“The cost incurred by BPDBhas increased further due tothe budgetary decision.”

BPDB Faces Tk 37bn Lossin 5 Months

Petrobangla has initiated adeal with Japanese firm

Tokyo Gas Co. Ltd to act as theconsultant for smooth con-struction of the country'smaiden land-based LNG im-port terminal at Matarbari.

The deal is now being vettedby the Ministry of Law, a sen-ior Petrobangla official said re-cently.

The final deal will be inkedafter vetting and approval fromthe cabinet committee on gov-ernment purchase, he said.

If awarded the job finally,Tokyo Gas will carry out a fea-sibility study and prepare thedocuments for selecting thefinal bidder to build the land-based LNG terminal.

It will also help the govern-ment evaluate bids and imple-ment the project work.

Officials said the governmentis working to build a 7.5 mil-lion tonne per year, or MTPA,capacity land-based LNG ter-minal doubling the country'soverall LNG re-gasification ca-pacity to 15 MTPA.

Currently two 3.75 milliontonne per year capacity LNGimport terminals having float-ing, storage, re-gasificationunits (FSRUs) are in operationat Moheshkhali and re-gasify-ing around 550 million cubicfeet per day (mmcfd), almosthalf their total capacity to re-gasify 1,000 mmcfd.

Tokyo Gas to Act as Consultantto Build Matarbari LNG Terminal

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Novel Coronavirus out-break across the globe

may cause a six-month delayin Rampal power project asmost of the Indian engineerscould not return to work, a topofficial said.

“The progress of the Rampalpower plant is sluggish due tocoronavirus. Implementationof the project would be de-layed,” said a high official of

Bangladesh Power Develop-ment Board (BPDB).

He added the visa restrictionover Covid-19 delayed returnof the foreign experts earlier.

“But some of the experts havestarted returning to the projectsite as the government has re-laxed the restrictions,” he said.

Despite that the unit-1 of the1320MW Rampal will comeinto operation by June, 2021and unit-2 by December,2021, he added.

Earlier deadline of the unit-1was February, 2021 and forunit-2 it was August.

Corona to Cause 6 Months Delayin Rampal Project

Acontractor for the Roop-pur Nuclear Power Plant

project has walked out of jailon bail in two cases filed overcorruption in purchasing fur-niture and household itemsfor project officials.

Shahdat Hossain, managingdirector of Sazin Construc-tion, was freed by theKashimpur jail authorities inGazipur recently, a day afterPabna District and SessionsJudge Md Mokbul Ahsangranted him bail on healthgrounds, said a lawyer of theAnti-Corruption Commission.

Journalists only came toknow about his release re-cently.

Md Moyazzem Hossain,deputy director of PabnaACC, said the case docu-ments were sent to the jail

authorities very promptly andShahadat was able to walkout of jail on the same day.

"The ACC head office is mon-itoring the graft cases. Wehave come to know that Sha-hadat has been freed from jailon bail, but we are yet to re-ceive court documents. Afterreceiving the documents, wewill take steps according todirectives of the ACC headoffice," said an ACC official.

On December 12 last year,the ACC had filed two caseswith its Pabna district officeagainst Shahadat and severalothers on charges of irregu-larities involving supply offurniture and householditems, worth Tk 16 crore, tothe power plant project offi-cials. Shahadat was arrestedon the same day.

RNPP: Key Accused in Pillow ScamCase Freed on Bail

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Some 30 percent construc-tion work on the

1200MW Matarbari coal-fired power plant was com-pleted as of July last as CoalPower Generation CompanyBangladesh Limited(CPGCBL), the implementingagency, has a target to com-plete the most expensivescheme by June 2023, showsan official document.

The document was placed ata progress review meeting ofthe annual development pro-gram (ADP) of the Power Di-vision on August 31.

However, officials at the im-plementing agency claimedthat the progress of the proj-ect work is 37 percent as ofAugust.

They said though the coron-avirus pandemic was a great

concern, it had little impacton the project work.

“We’re making good progressas per our schedule and hopeto be able to cover the workhampered for a few monthsdue to the pandemic,” saidan official at the CPGCBL.

On completion of land de-velopment, he said, now piling and other civil construc-tion works are being carriedout at the project site.

The Executive Committee ofthe National EconomicCouncil (ECNEC) approvedthe project titled ‘Matarbari2x600 MW Ultra Super Criti-cal Coal Fired Power’ involv-ing TK 35,984.46 crore(equivalent to $4.5bn) in2014.

It is considered to be thecountry’s most expensive

power genera-tion project asit has includedthe construc-tion of aberthing portfor handlingimported coal.

Matarbari Power Plant May BeReady for Operation in 2023

Bangladesh would pay upto 27 per cent lower

prices when it buys liquifiednatural gas (LNG) from VitolAsia of Singapore on the spotmarket, compared to the pay-

ments it makes to the existingsuppliers.

Recently, the government de-cided to buy 34,90,200MMBTus (million British ther-mal units) of LNG from Vitol

Asia at $3.8321per MMBTu.

The price is 26.86per cent lowerfrom $5.2395Bangladesh paidto RasGas ofQatar to import

LNG Purchase from Spot Marketsto Cut Costs by 27pc

State Minister for Power,Energy, and Mineral Re-

sources Nasrul Hamid saidthat smart grid and GIS tech-nology would ensure unin-terrupted power supply in thecountry.

He came up with this remarkat a recent virtual inauguralfunction of installing smartpre-paid meters in Maguraon the initiative of West ZonePower Distribution CompanyLimited (WZPDCL), says apress release.

Speaking as the chief guest,Nasrul Hamid directed theconcerned officials to addcustomer-friendly technologyand increase the use of new

technologies by keeping thecustomers involved.

Proper use of smart meterswill help save electricity to agreat extent, the state minis-ter added.

At present, WZPDCL has32,800 customers in Magura.Initially, 15,150 smart pre-paid meters have been set uptill the date.

Power Secretary SultanAhmed, Lawmaker ofMagura-1 constituency Sai-fuzzaman Shikhar, and Man-aging Director of WZPDCLMd. Shafiq Uddin, amongothers, were present on theoccasion.

Smart Grid, GIS to EnsureUninterrupted Power: Nasrul

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one MMBTu of LNG in Au-gust and 21.12 per centlower from $4.8585 it paid toOman Trading International.

If it buys one LNG cargo fromVitol Asia, Bangladesh wouldbe able to save Tk 39.77crore and Tk 29 crore respec-tively compared to the pricesmade to RasGas and OmanTrading, according to a doc-ument of the energy and min-eral resources ministry.

In a spot market, financial in-struments, such as commodi-

ties, currencies and securi-ties, are traded for immediatedelivery.

The LNG is expected to bedelivered between Septem-ber 30 and October 8. Thetotal cost would stand atabout Tk 132.93 crore.

Bangladesh now buys LNGon its own from RasGas andOman Trading Internationalunder government-to-government purchase agree-ments.

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September 16, 2020

Siemens Energy CEO: NewSpinoff to Focus on R&D, Service

Many of the power gener-ation sector’s biggest

companies are making bigmoves, big bets, big hedges asthey figure out Destination2050 is really going to looklike. Will renewables domi-nate? Will gas-fired turbinesstill lead the generation mix?Will hydrogen ever really hap-pen?

Multi-sector energy giantSiemens is certainly one ofthose majors which are honingtheir business plans to be nim-ble and adaptive. This year ithas spun off its power genera-tion equipment and servicesunits into Siemens Energy.

“I’m a big fan of transforma-tion,” said Christian Bruch,who has come over fromLinde to be the new CEO ofthe newly formed Siemens En-ergy. “We have a great portfo-lio (but) were not satisfied withthe financial performance.”

Bruch spoke with industrymedia writers in advance ofTuesday’s Capital Market Daywith investors. He talkedabout everything from the fu-ture of hydrogen in Siemensgas turbines to wind energy,

transmission and, not least ofwhich, natural gas as a transi-tional leader.

Siemens Energy includes thelongtime company’s turbineunit business, long-term serv-ice, the Siemens Gamesa windenergy joint venture and T&Dtechnologies. The newest andshiniest rotating equipment isalways attention-getting, butlong-term relationships and re-search are where the growthmay be.

“Forty percent of revenuetoday is in the service busi-ness,” Bruch said. “It’s great tobring (new) turbines in…(but)we are trying to convert thisinto long-term service con-tracts.”

Siemens also is eager to pushsignificant research and devel-opment into all kinds of newresources, such as experiment-ing with hydrogen, scaling upelectrolysis capacity needed toproduce the H2 in amplequantity, protecting smart gridswith state-of-the-art controlsand making conventional gen-eration resources more sus-tainable and efficient.

Many of the power gen-eration sector’s biggest

companies are making bigmoves, big bets, big hedgesas they figure out Destination2050 is really going to looklike. Will renewables domi-nate? Will gas-fired turbinesstill lead the generation mix?Will hydrogen ever reallyhappen?

Multi-sector energy giantSiemens is certainly one ofthose majors which are hon-ing their business plans to benimble and adaptive. Thisyear it has spun off its powergeneration equipment andservices units into SiemensEnergy.

“I’m a big fan of transforma-tion,” said Christian Bruch,who has come over fromLinde to be the new CEO ofthe newly formed SiemensEnergy. “We have a greatportfolio (but) were not satis-fied with the financial per-formance.”

Bruch spoke with industrymedia writers in advance ofTuesday’s Capital MarketDay with investors. Hetalked about everything fromthe future of hydrogen inSiemens gas turbines to wind

energy, transmission and, notleast of which, natural gas asa transitional leader.

Siemens Energy includes thelongtime company’s turbineunit business, long-term serv-ice, the Siemens Gamesawind energy joint ventureand T&D technologies. Thenewest and shiniest rotatingequipment is always atten-tion-getting, but long-termrelationships and researchare where the growth maybe.

“Forty percent of revenuetoday is in the service busi-ness,” Bruch said. “It’s greatto bring (new) turbines in…(but) we are trying to convertthis into long-term servicecontracts.”

Siemens also is eager to pushsignificant research and de-velopment into all kinds ofnew resources, such as ex-perimenting with hydrogen,scaling up electrolysis capac-ity needed to produce the H2in ample quantity, protectingsmart grids with state-of-the-art controls and making con-ventional generationresources more sustainableand efficient.

Beximco LPG, MeghnaPetroleum Team Up to Widen

Autogas Market

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Three people were killed asan oil tanker exploded at

the mechanical workshop ofIncontrade Container Depotin Chattogram's Patenga arearecently.

The dead are Muktar, 20,Newaz, 30, and Arman, 25,all employees of IncontradeLimited.

Besides, three more people --Amir Hossain, 35, JobayerHossain, 30, and Rabiul, 38 --sustained burn injuries.

They were admitted to Chat-

togram Med-ical CollegeH o s p i t a l(CMCH).

According to officials, theblast occurred when the work-ers were welding a dieseltanker.

Azizul Islam, assistant directorat Chattogram Headquarter ofFire Service and Civil De-fense, said the tanker went offas fuel was left inside it whenthe workers were welding.

On information, two units offirefighters rushed to the spot,doused the flare, and rescuedthe injured.

Three Workers Killed inFuel Tank Explosion

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33September 16, 2020

Integrated telecom infra-structure services com-pany edotco Bangladesh

has built a 75-meter hybridsolar-wind tower in Hatiya,a remote cyclone-prone is-land located to the north ofthe Bay of Bengal, whereno commercial power con-nection is available.

The tower consists of an in-built green hybrid energysolution with a capacity toproduce 42 kilowatts perday from 12-kilowatt solar panels and 6kilowatt per day from 4-kilowatt wind tur-bines mounted on the tower to ensureround-the-clock power supply, keepingthe telecom system operating throughoutthe year.

The renewable energy solution not only

helps decrease operating expenses by re-ducing diesel consumption and mainte-nance costs, but also reduces carbonemissions by up to 80 per cent, the com-pany said in a statement.

"As a socially responsible company,edotco implements initiatives in commu-nities across the nation irrespective of

their location or economiccondition," said RickySteyn, country managing di-rector of edotcoBangladesh.

"Solutions like these allowus to bring connectivity tounderprivileged communi-ties who desperately need itfor social empowerment.Aware of the community'sneeds, we aim to deliver so-lutions that are sustainableand can help improve the

quality of livelihoods."

This renewable energy solution is the firstof its kind in Bangladesh, specially builtto address connectivity needs in areaswhere the national electricity grid is un-available, according to the statement.

Bangladesh has been home to a few firstsfor edotco over the years, and we lookforward to bringing and creating more in-novations for and by the people."

Established in 2012, edotco Group is thefirst regional and integrated telecommuni-cations infrastructure service company inAsia, providing end-to-end solutions in thetower services sector from tower leasing,co-locations, build-to-suit, energy, trans-mission and operations and maintenance.

The group operates and manages a re-gional portfolio of over 31,820 towersacross scores of markets in Malaysia,Myanmar, Bangladesh, Cambodia, SriLanka, Laos, Philippines and Pakistanwith 20,230 towers being directly oper-ated by edotco.

In Bangladesh, edotco currently owns andoperates over 10,000 telecom towers.

edotco Deploys Bangladesh’s First HybridSolar-Wind Tower in Hatiya

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The German government is planning totender 5.3 GW in the rooftop segment

and 13.5 GW for large-scale PV projects.

A first draft of what the amendment to Ger-many’s renewable energy law, the EEG,could look like has leaked from the Fed-eral Ministry of Economics. pv magazineGermany has obtained a copy.

The new law, which is expected to comeinto force on January 1, 2021, includes atender scheme for solar and other renew-ables that could result in the deploymentof 18.8 GW of PV power capacity from2021 to 2028, with a minimum of 1.9 GWand a maximum of 2.8 GW being plannedto be allocated per year.

Of this total capacity, 5.3 GW will be ten-dered in the rooftop segment, while an-other 13.5 GW will be assigned forlarge-scale PV projects. Tenders for therooftop segment will apply to systemslarger than 500 kWp, while systems up to500 kW will be eligible for a feed in tariff.

Through these new tenders, the Germanfederal government wants to further re-duce final prices for PV technology.

According to the draft, the maximum pricein the tenders should drop from the current€0.0750/kWh to €0.0590 for ground-mounted systems. For roof systems, a max-imum value of €0.090/kWh is envisaged.

Germany to Tender 18.8 GW of PV by 2028

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35September 16, 2020

Germany recently launched its first“green” bond offering to finance en-

vironmental initiatives as it pivots towardsa sustainable economy, and could becomea benchmark issuer in the booming field.

The government raised 6.5 billion euros($7.7 billion), in the offering for the 10-year 0% bond, with investors placing or-ders of more than 33 billion euros,according to German finance agency.

Even at this early stage, “Germany is wellon the way to becoming a benchmark is-suer in the field of sustainability bonds,”according to German public bank LBBWanalyst ElmarVoelker.

A further bond issue is planned before theend of the year.

In August, the finance ministry said itwould raise up to 11 billion euros in 2020to support climate-related projects.

The green bonds are “twin bonds”, issuedalongside conventional federal bondswith a similar maturity and rate of return.

Moody’s analyst Matthew Kuchtyak saidthe approach is “innovative” and “shouldhelp alleviate investor concerns aroundthe liquidity of the green offerings.”

Germany is looking to become a keyplayer in eco-friendly finance and lastyear announced it would launch thebonds in the second half of 2020 as partof its efforts to combat climate change.

Berlin has earmarked spending of 54 bil-lion euros to 2023 as part of a climatepackage that includes introducing a car-bon tax to cut greenhouse gases by 55 per-cent by 2030 compared with 1990 levels.

“Germany is preparing for a comprehen-sive structural change towards a sustain-able and climate-friendly economy.” theagency said.

“This not only contributes to combating cli-mate change and protecting the environment,but also increases the country’s overall inno-vative strength and competitiveness.”

Germany’s First‘Green’ Bonds AttractStrong Demand

The target of Bangladesh Auto Indus-tries Ltd (BAIL) to market the coun-

try's first locally manufactured electricvehicles will be delayed by up to oneyear as the ongoing coronavirus pan-demic has halted development work ofits factory.

"We missed the target as the supplierscould not ship the required equipmenton time even though we opened lettersof credit earlier on," Mir Masud Kabir,managing director of BAIL, told a localnewspaper.

BAIL now faces three challenges due tothe Covid-19 fallout: a shortage of steel,equipment and workers, he added.

The company initially aimed at com-pleting development works of the proj-ect by April before going into fullproduction in June earlier this year.

Now though, BAIL has targeted thesame time next year to bring 'made inBangladesh' cars to the public.

According to the managing director,local steel suppliers have been unableto provide the necessary steel within thestipulated timeframe.

In light of these adversities, BAIL urgedBangladesh Economic Zones Authority(Beza) to consider reducing the rent ofland leased for the project at Banga-

bandhu Sheikh MujibShilpa Nagar in Chat-togram by 50 per cent fora three-year period.

Besides, banks seem re-luctant to provide loansagainst the project as theinvestors of economiczones do not own theland on which their busi-ness operates.

Pandemic Puts Electric Vehicle Plantin The Slow Lane

In early August, the Oil and Gas Au-thority (OGA) published its final report

on the Energy Integration Project in col-laboration with Ofgem, the Crown Es-tate and the Department for Business,Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS).

The report highlights that the integrationof offshore energy systems, including oil

and gas, renewables, hydrogen (bothblue and green) and carbon capture andstorage (CCS), has the potential to con-tribute to approximately 30% of theUK’s total carbon reduction require-ments that is needed to meet the 2050net zero target.

Significantly, the report also reveals thatadditional offshore renewable powergeneration in the form of wind, waveand tidal energy could contribute a fur-ther 30% towards the UK’s net zero tar-get. What this means is that activities inthe UK Continental Shelf (UKCS) couldsupport in total around 60% of the UK’sdecarbonization requirements.

Offshore Energy Integration Could Deliver30% of UK’s Net-Zero target

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36September 16, 2020

Australia granted a ‘Major Project’ sta-tus to Sun Cable’s US$15.8bn pro-

posed Australian-ASEAN Power Link(AAPL) that could mark Australia as theleading exporter of power generation fromsolar PV.

The venture highlights a 4,500km highvoltage direct current (HVDC) transmis-sion framework, connecting a 10GW solarand 30GWh storage facility near Darwin,Australia, with Singapore.

The power link will enable Australia tomanage the solar power intermittency inthe grid and help Singapore to improve theshare of renewable energy in the genera-tion mix from a mere 4.0% at present, toabout 20% by 2027, says GlobalData, aleading data and analytics company.

Ankit Mathur, Practice Head of Power atGlobalData, comments: “The global solaratlas reflects that the southeast Asian re-gion features a low specific yield rangingbetween approximately 1300-1400kWh/kWp, whereas sunniest placesin Australia have a specific yield of over1700 kWh/kWp. Consequently, Australiahas the ingredients that could make it oneof the world’s largest generator and ex-porter of solar energy. This venture, in linewith the nation’s renewable energy exportapproach, would be a new milestone ofenergy symbiosis within the countries inthe Asia-Pacific (APAC) and Oceania cor-ridor.”

GlobalData estimates that Australia willwitness exponential growth in the solar PVcapacity by the end of 2030 with an im-pressive CAGR of 11.3% and more thantripling the solar PV capacity from 13GWto 40GW.

By the end of 2027, Sun Cable predicts theAAPL to export around AU$2bn(US$1.44bn) of solar energy per year toSingapore, connecting Australia into theASEAN Power Grid.

Success of ProposedAustralian-ASEANPower Link Crucial,says GlobalData

The Dhaka North City Corporation(DNCC) will complete installing

46,410 LED lights in the city streets by2021 under the 'LED Light Supply andInstallation in DNCC Streets' project.

The revised cost of the project is over Tk3.69 billion. The project was supposedto complete by December 31 this yearwhich may be extended due to theCOVID-19 pandemic.

The DNCC signed an agreement withBangladesh Machine Tools Factory(BMTF) in this regard at a recent pro-

gram at Nagar Bhaban in the city's Gul-shan.

Project director and DNCC superinten-dent engineer Rafiqul Islam and BMTFgeneral manager Lt Col Tofael Ahmedsigned the deal on behalf of their re-spective organizations.

DNCC mayor Atiqul Islam was presentduring signing of the agreement.

Mr Atiqul Islam said that 42,500 LEDlights can be installed by 2021. Some ofthe streets will be illuminated by January

01, he said.

"It is part of our pledge of mak-ing the city safe by illuminatingthe city. The lights are made inEurope with 10 years of war-ranty," he added.

The BMTF will complete thework efficiently and do themaintenance during warrantyperiod.

DNCC to Install 46,410 LED Lights by 2021

Renewable energy is driving a newgeneration of mining that could

threaten global biodiversity if leftunchecked, researchers warned re-cently, as the imperative to find alterna-tives to fossil fuels ignites demand formetals and minerals used in green tech-nologies.

The Earth’s species are facing grave, in-terlaced threats from climate changeand the large-scale destruction of habi-tats, with fears that the planet may havealready entered a period of so-calledmass extinction.

The United Nations’ biodiversity panelIPBES last year warned that up to onemillion species faced the risk of extinc-tion as a result of humanity’s insatiabledesire for land and materials, while acritical summit on the issue next yearwill set the agenda for the next decade.

New research has suggested the threat

to biodiversitycould in-crease in thefuture, withmore mines

to extract raw materials needed in theequipment for wind and solar powergeneration, as well as in things like bat-teries and electric cars.

The study, published in Nature Commu-nications, found that 82 percent of theEarth’s land surface potentially affectedby mining contains materials needed forrenewable energy production.

Researchers mapped the distribution ofmines or planned mines and found thatmany of them were within or near pro-tected areas, or sites identified as futureconservation priorities.

They suggest eight percent of miningareas overlap with nationally designatedprotected areas, seven percent with keybiodiversity areas and 16 percent withremaining wilderness, which they saidwere areas considered important forbiodiversity loss.

Renewable Energy May Pose‘Biodiversity Threat’

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Dr. MA RashidSarkar, an educa-tionist and eminent

energy expert, passedaway on 10 September2020 at a hospital inDhaka after his nearly two-month battle with Covid-19 and associatedcomplications at the age of67 years. He was theChairman, Board of Direc-tors, Dhaka Water andSewerage Authority(DWASA). Dr. M A RashidSarkar hailed fromMahimaganj, Gaibandha.He completed his SSC in1969 from GobindaganjHigh School, Gaibandha.He studied further in Ra-jshahi Government Col-lege and completed hisHSC in 1971. Dr. M ARashid Sarker securedscholarship for higher edu-cation and went to As-trakhan, a Russian city onthe river Volga in 1973 forstudying Mechanical Engi-neering. He obtained M.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering in 1979from the Astrakhan State Technical Uni-versity and continued his researchworks there. In 1984, he obtained Ph. Dfrom Leningrad (now, St. PetersburgState Technical University) PolytechnicUniversity, former USSR.

Dr. Rashid joined BUET as a devotedteacher in Mechanical Engineering De-partment and continued his academiccareer there for more than 30 years(1985-2016). He served as a professor,Head of the Department of the Mechan-ical Engineering Department of BUET,Dean Faculty of Mechanical Engineer-ing BUET (2007 -2009) and successfullydischarged various academic and ad-ministrative responsibilities in BUET. Dr.M A Rashid Sarkar was a very popular

teacher among his students for his ami-able and helpful personality. He was thefounder Director of the Institute of Nu-clear Power Engineering of BUET. Afterretiring from BUET, Dr. Rashid joinedMilitary Institute of Nuclear Science andTechnology (MIST) as professor in theDepartment of Nuclear Science & Engi-neering (NSE) and served there until hislast days of life.

Dr. M A Rashid’s preferred field of re-search was Thermal Engineering, Greenpower & Energy, Safety and ThermalHydraulics of Nuclear Power Reactor,Nuclear Engineering Education and Per-sonnel Training.

He devoted his life in academia and inresearch. Dr Rashid Sarkar authored 3books (Cogeneration in Industrial and

Commercial Sectors of Bangladesh,ISBN 984-31-0783, Sustainable Devel-opment in Bangladesh. 2001, TrainingMaterials on Renewable Energy Educa-tion and Application for Rural Commu-

nities in Bangladesh,ISBN-984-31-0784-5) andpublished nearly 200 re-search articles in variousreputed local and interna-tional professional jour-nals. He has served asDirector, Centre for EnergyStudies, BUET (1997 —2001). He was theFounder Editor, Journal ofEnergy and Environment,published by Centre forEnergy Studies, BUET. Dr.Rashid had major contri-butions to promotion ofnuclear engineering edu-cation in Bangladesh. Hehad significant contribu-tion to development ofconventional and renew-able energy technologies.

Dr. Rashid believed thatBangladesh needed nu-clear energy for securingreliable baseload powersupplies at an affordableprice. He considered thatestablishment of RooppurNuclear Power Plant(RNPP) at Ishwardi, Pabnawould help Bangladesh to

get affordable electric energy for at least80 years after its commissioning of theplant targeted in 2024. Rooppur NPPhelped Bangladesh to earn respect anddignity in the world arena as the countrystepped into the practical use of nuclearenergy for peaceful purposes.

The Russian Federation has been assist-ing in implementation of the RNPPwithin the framework and Inter-govern-mental Agreements betweenBangladesh and the Russian Federation.At the same time, the RNPP project im-plementation enabled local engineersand scientists to equip themselves withmost advanced knowledge in scienceand engineering. The single largest proj-ect implementation experience forBangladeshi engineers and managers in

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Tribute

September 16, 2020

Tribute to Dr. Rashid Sarkar Mushfiqur Rahman

Dr. MA Rashid Sarkar

its country’s history helps overcomeeveryday many administrative, techni-cal and psychological barriers. Dr.Rashid rightly pointed out that the expe-rience earned from the RNPP projectimplementation would widen the win-dow of learning, practicing and studyingthe nuclear science for Bangladeshi stu-dents, engineers and professionals.While assessing the RNPP as a positiveproject for the nation, Dr. Rashid did notforget the risk factors involved in devel-oping nuclear power plants. However,he argued that such risks could be elim-inated by taking proper safety and phys-ical security measures, which had beenadopted in the RNPP project. Further, hepointed out that the technology chosenfor the RNPP nuclear reactor was thelatest one and proven technology withhigh level of active and passive safetymeasures.

Dr. Rashid maintained his academic in-terests on nuclear energy from his uni-versity days. During his Ph. D researchyears in Leningrad, he undertook spe-cial comprehensive course on ‘NuclearThermal Hydraulics and Two PhaseFlow’ offered by Nuclear EngineeringDepartment, Leningrad PolytechnicUniversity in 1981. He further attendedcourse on ‘Boiling heat transfer andsafety in nuclear reactor’, at the Moscowpower institute in 1982. He made tech-nical visits to Novo-Voronezh NuclearPower Plant and attended a trainingprogram in a full scope NPP Simulatorat Novo-Voronezh Nuclear power plantin June 2015, the reference Nuclear re-actor technology that Russia has agreedto build at Rooppur, Bangladesh. In ad-dition, Dr. Rashid visited the laborato-ries at the Atomic Power StationDepartment in Moscow Power Univer-sity in 2014. Dr. Rashid was a visitingFellow of the prestigious Moscow Insti-tute of Physics (MIPHY) which is famousfor nuclear science research andBangladesh Atomic Energy Commissionhas been regularly sending its scientistsand engineers for higher study there. Incontinuation of his interests in nucleartechnology, Dr Rashid continued his re-search in nuclear power plant and itsvarious components. His research in-cluded the pressurized vessels, reactor

technology assessment and selection ofa power reactor for electricity genera-tion in Bangladesh.

Dr Rashid felt that the rapid expansionof nuclear technologies and nuclearpower engineering in the developingcountries including Bangladesh neces-sitate urgently developing skilled humanresource for safe, responsible and sus-tainable use and secure operations ofnuclear technologies.

Dr. Rashid was a good organizer and so-cially active person. During his studentlife in Astrakhan, he was an active stu-dent leader. He was the President of theBangladesh Student’s Association in hisuniversity. His contemporary studentsand friends from Bangladesh who stud-ied in Astrakhan and in USSR fondly re-calls Dr. Rashid’s smiling face andeagerness to help the fellow students.He maintained regular and good rela-tions with Bangladeshi students’ com-munity in Moscow and Leningrad. Hehad the rare quality to keep smilingwhatever the difficult environment ofworks it could be. Those who studiedtogether with him and worked with himin later parts of his life recall that Dr

Rashid always kept smiling even if hedisagreed with someone on certain is-sues.

Dr. Rashid Sarkar had a diverse and ac-tive professional affiliation with presti-gious local and internationalorganizations. He was a life Fellow ofthe Institute of Engineers, Bangladesh,Fellow of Bangladesh Computer Soci-ety, Fellow of NOAMI, Bangladesh,Member Bangladesh Physical Society,Member International Energy Associa-tion, Member, Commission for Educa-tion and Communication IUCN,Member World Council on RenewableEnergy. He was a Vice President ofBangladesh Solar Energy Society. DrRashid was an active Vice President ofthe Soviet Alumni Association,Bangladesh.

He will always be remembered for hiscontribution in advancing education,research in energy sector development,advancing knowledge in nuclear energydevelopment in Bangladesh.

Mushfiqur Rahman;Mining Engineer,Writes on Energy & Environment Issues

38September 16, 2020

Report

The future of global gas demand wasthe subject of the Global Gas Report

2020 (GGR) published last month bythe International Gas Union (IGU), incollaboration with Bloomberg NEF(BNEF) and Italian gas company Snam.

In addition to reviewing 2019 perform-ance, the report assesses the effect ofCovid-19 on the gas industry in the firsthalf of 2020 and analyses the drivers forrecovery in the next few years.

It also includes a special section on therole of hydrogen and the gas industry inthe low-carbon transition, particularlyon market potential and technologicaloptions and costs of hydrogen produc-tion, storage and transport.

Its main conclusion is that the disrup-tion caused by Covid-19 is on the way

to reduce gas consumption and LNGtrade by 4% in 2020. This and abun-dant supply of gas have kept prices athistoric lows.

But on the positive side, GGR pointsout that “abundant supply and contin-ued cost-competitiveness, aided by apush for cleaner air, can lead to a re-covery in demand to pre-Covid-19 lev-els in the next two years, as the globaleconomy regains momentum.”

This will be critically dependent oncontinuing gas infrastructure invest-ment, supported by technological inno-vation to raise efficiency and keepprices low. This includes scaling-up oflow-carbon gas technologies, such asbiomethane and carbon capture andstorage.

The Future of Global Gas Demand

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Climate

September 16, 2020

Foreign Minister Dr AKAbdul Momen recently

called upon all to engageyouths in climate adaptationissues globally saying theyare the future.

"We have to engage youthpower. We have to engagethem everywhere," he said atthe inaugural session of firstever virtual climate summit,Climate: Red.

The Foreign Minister laid em-phasis on joint efforts to ad-dress the challenges onclimate fronts.

"We have to create a globalpublic awareness campaign.Single country can't manageit. We have to work togetherin partnership and collabora-tion," said the Foreign Minis-ter.

Climate: Red, a two-day fullyvirtual and truly global cli-mate change summit,brought youth champions,activists, indigenous leaders,scientists and governmentministers together for 30hours of innovation, ideas,and action to tackle the cli-mate emergency.

The summit has been organ-ized by the International Fed-eration of Red Cross (IFRC)and Red Crescent Societies tomobilize support for climateaction, and encourage thesharing of ideas and experi-ences.

The event will run for 30consecutive hours to allowpeople in all time zones toget involved, and is open foreveryone to join.

FM for Engaging Youth PowerGlobally on Climate Front

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Uber Technologies Inc re-cently said every vehicle

on its global ride-hailing plat-form will be electric by 2040,and it vowed to contribute

US$800 million through2025 to help drivers switch tobattery-powered vehicles, in-cluding discounts for vehi-cles bought or leased from

partner au-tomakers.

Uber, which asof early Febru-ary said it had5 million driv-ers worldwide,said it formed

Uber Promises 100pc EVs by 2040partnerships with GeneralMotors and the Renault, Nis-san, Mitsubishi alliance.

In addition to the vehicle dis-counts, Uber said theUS$800 million includes dis-counts for charging and a faresurcharge for electric and hy-brid vehicles, the cost ofwhich would be partially off-set by an additional small feecharged to customers who re-quest a “green trip.”

Uber said that vehicles on itsrides platform in the UnitedStates, Canada and Europewill be zero-emission by2030, taking advantage ofthe regulatory support andadvanced infrastructure inthose regions.

The deals with GM and theRenault alliance focus on theU.S., Canada and Europe.Uber said it was discussingpartnerships with other au-tomakers.

Prime Minister SheikhHasina recently hoped

that the regional office of theGlobal Center on Adaptation(GCA) in Dhaka will serve asa ‘Center of Excellence’ anda solution-broker for climateadaptation measures in theSouth Asia region.

“I hope this regional officewill share the best adaptationpractices of Bangladesh aswell as other countries andexchange practices withinthe region. It will serve as aCentre of Excellence and asolution-broker for adapta-tion measures in the region,”she said addressing thelaunching event of the cen-ter.

Sheikh Hasina and Chair ofthe GCA Board former UNSecretary General Ban Ki-moon jointly inaugurated the‘Global Centre on Adapta-tion (GCA) Bangladesh’ digi-

tally at Agargaon. DutchPrime Minister Mark Ruttealso spoke at the virtual func-tion.

Noting that climate change isa global affair, Sheikh Hasinacalled upon all countries toenhance their nationally-de-termined contributions byDecember 31 this year intackling the menace as wellas execute the 2015 ParisAgreement.

About the newly-openedGCA office in Dhaka, thePrime Minister said this is ahistoric moment for combat-ing climate change in SouthAsia through adaptation.

“It is heartening to note thatthe GCA Bangladesh officewill facilitate, support anddevelop on-the ground ac-tion in South Asia to enhanceadaptation and climate re-silience,” she said.

Climate Change: PM Hopes GCAto be a Center of Excellence

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Climate

September 16, 2020

Speakers at a virtual work-shop said that there is no

alternative to youth’s involve-ment in the fight against theadverse impacts of climatechange.

The workshop titled ‘ClimateChange and the Role of theYouth’was organized by PalliKarma-Sahayak Foundation(PKSF) recently to buildawareness among the youth,said a press release.

Bangladesh Climate Change

Trust Managing DirectorMasud Ahmed attended theworkshop as the special guestwith PKSF Chairman Dr KaziKhalikuzzaman Ahmed inthe chair.

PKSF Chairman Dr Kazi Kha-likuzzaman Ahmed said peo-ple are in a disastroussituation owing to the impactof climate change. He ex-pects the youth to take moreresponsibility to fight againstit.

Workshop on Climate Change Held

Financing environment-friendly green initiatives by

local banks and non-bank fi-nancial institutions (NBFI) hasdropped by 16.83 per cent orTk 513.38 crore in the April-June quarter this year againstthat in the previous quarter.

In the April-June quarterbanks and NBFIs have dis-bursed Tk 2,537.81 crore forfunding environment-friendlyinitiatives against their dis-

bursement of Tk 3,051.19crore in loan in the January-March period, showed a BBquarterly review on GreenBanking Activities.

The disbursements amountedto Tk 2,020 crore and Tk3,512.55 crore respectively inthe previous two quarters.

Bank officials said that the de-cline was mainly because ofthe disruption in banking ac-tivities induced by the out-

break ofcoronavirus pan-demic in the coun-try.

Shedding light onBB's initiative to ex-pedite green financ-ing by the country's

Green Financing by Banks Dippedby 17pc in April-June

Global temperaturesboosted by climate

change will still be higherthan usual despite the cool-ing effect of a La Ninaweather phenomenon ex-pected to develop in thecoming months, the UN saidThursday.

The World MeteorologicalOrganization (WMO) saidthere was a 60 percentchance of a La Nina eventbetween September and No-vember.

But WMO chief Petteri Taalaswarned in a statement that“even if a La Nina event doesdevelop, its cooling signalwill not be enough to coun-terbalance the impact ofhuman-induced climatechange.”

“2020 remains on track to beone of the warmest years onrecord, with much extremeweather ranging from scorch-ing temperatures and wild-fires to devastating floods andmarine heatwaves,” he said.

“This is largely the result ofgreenhouse gases rather thannaturally occurring climatedrivers.”

La Nina is considered thestormy sister of El Nino,which occurs every two toseven years, when the pre-vailing trade winds that cir-culate surface water in thetropical Pacific start toweaken.

El Nino, which has a majorinfluence on weather and cli-mate patterns and associatedhazards such as heavy rains,floods and drought, has awarming influence on globaltemperatures, whilst La Ninatends to have the opposite ef-fect.

The last La Nina, which wasbrief and rather weak, begandeveloping in November2017 and ended in April2018, the WMO said, addingthat the one expected thisyear should also be weak.

La Nina Likely, But TemperaturesSet to Remain High: UN

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banks and NBFIs, the BB re-view said, it is working toboost the whole scenario bytaking appropriate policy ini-tiatives.'

'Refinancing support from BBis also playing an importantrole to add incentives to green

banking activities,' it said. 'Asinevitable outcome of theseinitiatives, it is expected thatpositive impact will be no-ticed to accelerate the trendof green financing activitiesby banks and NBFIs in grad-ual manner,' said BB.

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Foreign Minister Dr AKAbdul Momen recently

said the South Asian RegionalCenter of Global Center onAdaptation (GCA) in Dhakawill be a milestone for inter-national partnership.

He said after the devastationof the COVID-19 pandemic,they will build back their cli-mate resilience much betterby making transition to agreen economy and investingin more decarbonization ofthe production methods andconsumption.

"But this requires a strongglobal commitment and ef-fort," he said adding thatBangladesh is ready to shareher experience and bestpractices regarding adapta-tion and disaster manage-

ment.

Dr Momen said they have al-ready formulated 82-year-long “Delta Plan 2100”which is a living test case forall the deltas of the world.

The Foreign Minister madethe remarks at the inauguralceremony of the South AsianRegional Center of GlobalCenter on Adaptation (GCA)in Dhaka on Tuesday.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasinainaugurated the GCA.

Former UN secretary generaland GCA Chair Ban Ki-Moonand ministers fromBangladesh and other coun-tries from the South Asia re-gion joined it virtually.

GCA to be Milestone for Int'lPartnership: FM

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Climate

September 16, 2020

Saying that Bangladesh’sclimate adaptation en-

deavor is an example for theworld to follow, the UK’s In-ternational Environment Min-ister Lord Goldsmith hasstressed the need to workwith Bangladesh to tackle cli-mate change.

“Developing countries likeBangladesh are the hardesthit by climate change… thework taking place here(Bangladesh) to help adapt toits impacts and build re-silience is an example for theworld to follow,” he said.

He was paying a ‘virtual visit’to Bangladesh on August 25,to see need for the UK to help

the country build adaptationand resilience to climatechange, a press release is-sued by British High Com-mission here said recently.

Next year, the UK will hostthe UN climate change con-ference COP26 in Glasgowwith its partner Italy whileBangladesh is holding thepresidency of the ClimateVulnerable Forum (CVF) andthe Vulnerable Twenty (V20)Group of Ministers of Fi-nance for the term 2020-2022.

“As COP26 Presidents, weare encouraging countries tocome forward with ambitiousvisions to put nature-based

solutions at the heartof plans to tackle cli-mate change,” saidthe UK minister.

The UK is proud tos u p p o r tBangladesh’s adap-tation efforts to faceadverse effects ofglobal warming, headded.

Bangladesh’s ClimateAdaptation is Example for World

to Follow: UK

EPEP

Winter ice in the BeringSea, in the northern Pa-

cific Ocean between Alaskaand Russia, is at its lowest lev-els for 5,500 years, accordingto a study released recently.

Researchers analyzed vegeta-tion that accumulated on theuninhabited island of StMatthew over the last five mil-lennia.

They looked at variations inpeat layers of oxygen atomscalled isotopes 16 and 18,

whose proportions over timecorrelate with atmosphericand oceanic changes and pre-cipitation.

“It’s a small island in the mid-dle of the Bering Sea, and it’sessentially been recordingwhat’s happening in the oceanand atmosphere around it,”said Miriam Jones, the re-searcher who conducted thestudy at the University ofAlaska and then at the US Ge-ological Survey.

Bering Sea Ice at Lowest Levelsin 5,500 Years

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The capital city had anAQI score of 112 in the

morning, indicating that theair quality was unhealthy forsensitive groups.

A numerical value between101 and 150 indicates thatmembers of the sensitivegroups may experiencehealth effects. The generalpublic is less likely to be af-fected.

Brazil’s Sau Paulo with a

score of 153topped the listof cities withworst air quality.

The following places wererespectively taken by In-donesia’s Jakarta, China’sChengdu and Shenzhen.

The AQI, an index for report-ing daily air quality, tellspeople how clean or pol-luted the air of a certain cityis and what associatedhealth effects might be aconcern for them.

Dhaka’s Air Unhealthy forSensitive Groups

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Bangladesh’s vision to expand therole of natural gas is in the rightdirection. The recent announce-

ment to review the plans of buildinglarge new coal-fired power capacities isa positive step towards the transition toclean energy. Bangladesh has to meetits growing energy needs, particularlyfor power generation, where there is ahuge need to add baseload capacities.But, it is important to opt for clean, reli-able and stable sources of energy, suchas natural gas.

Besides, small scale LNG offers a goodopportunity through projects that canbe dedicated to feeding power stations,industrial activities or even refuellingstations for the transport sector. We seethe real value of natural gas in the trans-port sector in Bangladesh, which canprocure a competitive source of energyfor transport vehicles, including trucksand buses in the country.

Yury Sentyurin, Secretary General ofGECF, shared his thought about thepresent and possible future ofBangladesh’s energy sector in an exclu-sive email interview with Energy &Power Editor Mollah Amzad Hossain.

Bangladesh has just started importinggas and would continue to import itover a long period of time since thecountry’s reserve is exhausting fast.What strategy the country should follownow?

Bangladesh used to be self-sufficient inmanaging its gas demand, but turned toLNG import in 2018 to cope with itssoaring demand, particularly in powergeneration and industrial sectors.

The country currently has two LNG im-port terminals, both floating storage andregasification units (FSRUs) lying offMoheshkhali island in the south of the

country. The first, with a regasificationcapacity of 3.78 mtpa, commenced op-erations in August 2018 and is operatedby state oil and gas companyPetrobangla. The second, also with thesame capacity, was fired up in May lastyear and is privately owned by SummitPower.

According to the GECF Global GasModel, more LNG regasification termi-nals with a total capacity of around 24mtpa are expected to come on board inthe country, such as Bangladesh’s firstonshore LNG terminal, Matabari, with7.54 mtpa capacity some time in 2023.

According to our estimation,Bangladesh will need to import around17 mt LNG by 2030, 28 mt in 2040 and40 mt LNG in 2050 to meet its rising gasdemand as domestic gas reserves aredepleting fast.

The pace of LNG import growth inBangladesh will depend on economicgrowth, investment and governmentpolicy and regulatory support, as wellas LNG price competitiveness. How-ever, there are some uncertainties, in-cluding:•The downstream infrastructure: Thenatural gas pipeline has limited capacityin Bangladesh, and to cover the importof LNG into the country, it is necessaryto expand and construct new pipelinenetworks;

•Price subsidies and deregulation: Be-cause of the cheap domestic gas prices,currently the gap between gas producedinside the country and the internationalLNG spot prices is wider than ideal; and

•Liberalising the LNG market: Thepolicies given by the Ministry of Power,Energy and Mineral Resources for al-lowing private companies to importLNG is a prudent decision as it will

boost LNG imports to the country. Ac-cordingly, the government should notinterfere in the pricing mechanism andallow third-party access (private players)to import and sell the LNG directly tothe customers.

Bangladesh is using FSRUs to importLNG and planning to set up land-basedterminals. There is a reality that the Bayof Bengal is mostly rough. What strategythe country should adopt about gas im-port infrastructure to ensure steady sup-ply of LNG?

A steady security of supply is one of thekey factors for the development of thegas industry and the economy of acountry. Having a shortage of any kindof energy affects the whole economy

Yury Sentyurin

Gas price crashes and convergencewere already underway before

Covid­19, and in our short­termrevisions last year, we were expecting adownward trend in the prices because

of LNG oversupplies. The currentlow­price environment is indeed a

combined effect of oversupplies, mildweather, high­level storage, andweaker demand aggravated by

Covid­19.

‘Gas is the Right Fuel forBangladesh’s Development,Transition to Clean Energy’

43

Interview

September 16, 2020

and reduces its ability to face social is-sues related to health, education, jobs,and infrastructure, to name a few.

As far as Bangladesh is concerned, Iwould like here to give a general land-scape of the energy market of the coun-try.

With more than 590 bcm of proven gasreserves, Bangladesh has a diversifiedenergy mix where all the sources of en-ergy are used in power sector and inother sectors of activities. The powersector is highly dependent on naturalgas, where the latter’s share representsmore than 84%.

The role of natural gas in the country isbecoming increasingly important on theback of the rising energy demand. Itshould be noted that the potential of theBay of Bengal — a prominent field interms of natural gas resources — has notbeen fully unlocked yet.

Coming to the strategy for gas imports,first of all, I would like to mention thatBangladesh, as a sovereign country, isalready doing great with its policymak-ers adopting the right strategies for thesecurity of energy supply to the countrythrough the National Energy Policy es-tablished for energy sustainability andsecurity illustrated in the form of a “FiveFuel Strategy”. This strategy diversifiesthe sources of energy with the prioritygiven to natural gas, followed by coaland the rest compensated by renew-ables, nuclear, and energy efficiency. Itis important to highlight also that infra-structure issues are a big concern to thegovernment, with the country joiningthe LNG imports club in April 2018through FSRUs. In 2019, Bangladeshimported around 5.25 bcm of LNG.

Additionally, Bangladesh is keen to takepart in the global effort on climatechange issues and reduce emissions. Inits Nationally Determined Contributions(NDCs) of the Paris Agreement,Bangladesh announced its aim to re-duce GHG emissions by 40% (48MtCO2eq) by 2030, while relying oninternational support for part of the tar-get.

In our view, and in terms of importinginfrastructure, Bangladesh has three op-

tions to access natural gas: the first oneis to add another FSRU near the alreadyexisting facility in Moheshkhali. All theinland facilities are already operatingwhich would mean less investment forthe total project. In addition, LNG ves-sels are already safely berthing in the re-gion with all the environmentalconditions (wind and wave), and tech-nical conditions such as mooring pre-requisite.

The second option is to have anotherFSRU in the west coast of the country.This will help to bring gas access to thewestern region on top of growth that gaswill bring to the area in terms of indus-trial investment and employment. Froma context of security of supply, this op-tion will also diversify the supply port-folio of Bangladesh. In addition, havingtwo different gas entry points (regasifi-cation units) will prevent any shortagesin terms of gas availability in the coun-try. Nevertheless, this region is likely tobe challenging due to weather condi-tions. However, many Indian regasifi-cation terminals have already been builtin the same bay, which could be usedas benchmark for the new FSRUs.

The third option could be the safest interms of security of supply, where thegas can directly flow by gas pipelinesfrom Myanmar fields in any weathercondition and is easy to manage. How-ever, the government needs to investmassively in pipelines grid across thecountry. Moreover, the time period forbuilding such a network will be longerthan having a new FSRU.

To conclude, the GECF believes thatnatural gas is the greatest fuel that pro-vides multiple advantages toBangladesh: reach its NDCs targets, at-tain the targeted coverage of 96% of thecountry with electricity, accelerateemission reductions, launch a robust in-dustrial business for the economic de-velopment, and allow access toelectricity to the quarter of its popula-tion that is currently without power byoffering a clean, affordable, and acces-sible natural gas. In our opinion, theGECF, with a representation of 72% ofglobal proven natural gas reserves, willbe the ideal partner for Bangladesh

thanks to its established history in natu-ral gas and LNG trade and presence onthe international markets. The country has so far signed long-termagreements with Qatar and Oman toimport LNG. It has also enlisted somecompanies to supply LNG at spot mar-ket price. As an organization for the gasexporting countries, what strategy theGECF would suggest for Bangladesh sothat it could get sustainable supply ofLNG at competitive price?

Rapid economic growth in Bangladeshover the past five years, at an average of7.5% per annum, is accelerating naturalgas demand and gas imports in thecountry. Bangladesh began importingLNG in late 2018, with first LNG cargoarriving from Qatar’s RasGas. As of2019, Bangladesh was already import-ing over 5 bcm, solely via LNG, and theGECF Member Countries accounted formore than 90% of Bangladesh LNG im-ports, with Qatar alone providing alion’s share of 70%.

In our view, which is also in line withthe 2019 Malabo Declaration of the 5thGECF Gas Summit of Heads of Stateand Government, following the strategyof securing long-term gas contracts willensure a stable and sustainable supplyof LNG for Bangladesh along with ap-plying a diversification principle andthus enabling competitive pricing.Long-term LNG contracts allow naturalgas importers, such as Bangladesh, tomitigate risk considerably, somethingwhich can’t be tackled in the case ofspot trades. They also serve as a hedgeagainst political and geopolitical risks,natural disasters, and potentially tightersupply in the natural gas market.

It is important to note that along withthe development of the Asian LNG trad-ing hubs there will be more flexibilityand optionality for index pricing, in-cluding hybrid indexation, and long-term LNG contracts will embrace someof the features of LNG and natural gasprices of one or more of the Asian LNGhubs.

As you know Europe and North Amer-ica are trading gas through pipeline.China is also developing a pipeline toimport gas from central Asia and Myan-

44September 16, 2020

mar while South Asia planning to im-port gas from central Asia and Iran.How Bangladesh could get benefit fromthe planned projects?

It is true that pipeline natural gas (PNG)trade now plays a crucial role in globalgas trade. In 2019, PNG trade, based onthe net flows approach, reached 546bcm. Based on the traditional grossflows approach, global pipeline gastrade reached even higher level of 801bcm. In the meantime, LNG tradeamounted to 483 bcm. As such, what-ever approach we use, PNG trade ex-ceeds LNG trade.

The competition between PNG andLNG is based on various factors, withthe distance between exporting and im-porting countries being a crucial one.PNG transportation might be quite ex-pensive when it comes to longer dis-tances, which is driven by both capexand opex. The conventional industrywisdom is that PNG transportation canbe more competitive than LNG trans-portation at a distance of up to 4,000kilometres.

Bangladesh, which is located relativelyfar from the largest gas exporting coun-tries, does not have a great potential toimport natural gas by pipeline. As weunderstand, market players are cur-rently not considering any plans tobuild gas pipelines to Bangladesh.However, in theory, there might besome potential pipeline projects inBangladesh. First, as you have men-tioned, the neighboring Myanmar hassupplied natural gas to China bypipeline since 2013. However, thispipeline is highly underutilised becauseof the shortage of gas production inMyanmar. In 2019, less than 5 bcm wassupplied, despite the capacity of thispipeline being around 13 bcm. At themoment, various major internationalgas companies are exploring Myan-mar’s offshore areas. If they succeed infinding and developing large gas re-serves there, Bangladesh might be inter-ested in building a pipeline in order toimport gas from this country. Second,TAPI pipeline with a capacity of 33bcm, connecting Turkmenistan with

Afghanistan, Pakistan and India, isbeing constructed now. If India buildsnew gas pipelines and expands the ex-isting ones, there will be potential totransport Turkmenistan’s pipeline gas toBangladesh via India.

What can drive the global gas prices upagain in the coming months?

Gas price crashes and convergencewere already underway before Covid-19, and in our short-term revisions lastyear, we were expecting a downwardtrend in the prices because of LNGoversupplies. The current low-price en-vironment is indeed a combined effectof oversupplies, mild weather, high-level storage, and weaker demand ag-gravated by Covid-19.

However, natural gas and LNG priceshave shown signs of recovery since June2020, after reaching unprecedentedlows earlier this year due to mildweather conditions and a drastic reduc-tion in gas demand due to the lock-down measures associated with theCovid-19 pandemic.

We expect that prices will continuetheir upward trend before stabilising inQ4 2020 with Asian and Europeanprices expected to reach US$4-5/mmBtu, which would bring the aver-age of the year 2020 in the range ofUS$3-3.5/mmBtu. We expect growth ingas demand amidst the looming winterseason, especially if the season will ex-perience lower than usual weather tem-peratures. Also, the lifting of lockdownmeasures will support gas demand inthe power and industrial sectors, andthus witness higher prices. Increasedgas demand, accompanied by shrinkinggas supply due to the cancellation ofmultiple LNG cargoes from the U.S.,and lingering start-up of some LNG liq-uefaction projects will improve marketfundamentals in the upcoming months.

Furthermore, new energy policies infavour of gas and the phase-out of coaland nuclear power plants in Asia andEurope will increase the calls on gas tomeet growing energy demand.

Should the GECF be prepared for a long(several years) recession?

The current recession of the globaleconomy, which was induced by theCOVID-19 pandemic has caused hugedamages on the socio-economic situa-tions of countries around the world.This is the deepest recession of theworld economy since the Great Depres-sion in the 1930s. Although, the nega-tive impacts of the pandemic onpeople’s health, lifestyle, social behav-iours, and economic situation are ex-pected to remain for several years, theglobal economic recovery is expectedto materialise by 2021. Providing signif-icant fiscal and monetary stimulus bygovernments, easing economic lock-down in many of countries in the world,and resuming economic activities ac-companied with the hopes the vaccineproduction has already triggered eco-nomic recovery in the second half of2020 in most of major advanced anddeveloping economies will be severalimportant factors at play in this turn-around.

Nevertheless, any recovery in the sec-ond half of 2020 is not expected to fullycompensate sharp contractions in thefirst part of the year and we expect thatthe global economy to decline by -4.5% by the end of 2020. However, theglobal recovery is expected to realize in2021 with nearly 4.9% in economicgrowth — slower than expected before.Therefore, we do not see several yearsof recession in the global economy,supposing that other detrimental factorsremain stable over the coming years.We believe that we are on the ascend-ing part of the curve for the global econ-omy, and once again the GECF is happyto serve its partners in Bangladesh andelsewhere.

Will the number of gas exporting coun-tries decrease in the next 5-10 years be-cause of the current slowdown?

According to our studies and modellingtools, most of the gas exporters willmaintain their position in exporting nat-ural gas in the coming 10 years, andeven after this period only some of theexporting countries, for example, Nor-way will see their export slightly re-duced over the following decade. So,we do not expect a decrease in the

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number of gas exporting countries, andon the contrary we expect this memberto increase based on the market situa-tion and upstream discoveries, explo-ration, and proposed productionprojects.

For example, Cyprus is a potentialcountry to start exporting natural gas inaround 2030, and even in shorter-termSenegal and Mauritania will likely jointhe league of gas exporters by utilisingthe Greater Tortue Ahmeyim gas proj-ect. In the long-term, we also expect afew other countries such as Mozam-bique and Tanzania to join the club ofgas exporters.

Due to the extremely positive attributesof natural gas, such as being a clean, af-fordable, and abundant source of fuel,we have witnessed incremental in-crease in the amount of countries pro-ducing and exporting natural gas. At thedawn of the 21st Century, there were14-15 countries exporting LNG whilstthis number stood at 20 in 2019. At thesame time, the number of importerscontinues to increase with every pass-ing year as well. Of course, this increaseis dependent on various conditionssuch as the state of economy, govern-ment-mandated lockdowns, and otherfactors, but currently 42 countries im-port LNG and this number is expectedto increase to more than 60 by 2050.

It is worthwhile to note that energy in-vestments, including in natural gas, arevery capital intensive and the walk-away approach with each wave is notunder consideration from experiencedexporters in the energy market. The cur-rent imbalance in the natural gas marketis a catalyst for more integration and co-ordination between gas exporters to de-sign the best business strategy to meetthe demand of their consumers. We be-lieve exporters have to coordinate nowand in the future on developing moreflexible long-term contracts to protecttheir investments and revenue streams,as well as satisfy the consumer needsand protect them against price fluctua-tions.

In our view, the GECF, as a platform ofcooperation between gas exporting

countries, presents several advantagesto its members in this difficult period, bytaking inspiration from its mission andstrategic goals enshrined in its Statuteand Long-term Strategy. The GECF sup-ports countries in assessing and fore-casting natural gas markets, establishingcommon views and positions on theglobal gas markets development, andpromoting them internationally. TheForum offers a real opportunity for dis-cussing policies and options that candeal with gas and energy challengesheightened by Covid-19. It also consid-ers consumers such as Bangladesh avaluable partner in this process.

The coal and oil are the dirtiest fuel asfar as their impact on the climatechange is concerned. In comparison,gas is a cleaner fuel. How much theGECF could contribute to the globaltransition towards cleaner fuel?

At the GECF, we recognise that con-cerns around environmental preserva-tion are key drivers for the future energyconfigurations. In this regard we haveidentified a real opportunity tostrengthen cooperation and share bestpractices between Member Countries toimprove the environmental footprint ofthe gas-related activities.

We have initiated an EKS (Environmen-tal Knowledge and Solutions) frame-work under which we collect bestpractices on environmental safeguard-ing. This involves a set of actions, in-cluding reinforcing the Secretariat’sresearch activity on environmental is-sues, and cooperation with research in-stitutes and organisations; intensifyingthe dialogue to promote the sustainableimage of natural gas; organising eventsand workshops dedicated to the discus-sion of the environmental matters; sup-porting efforts to develop technologiesthat reduce GHGs emissions throughthe GECF Gas Research Institute, re-cently established in Algeria; and, fi-nally, collecting data on GHGsemissions and exchanging expertise onthe best practices.

Our effort to support the sustainable ad-vantages of natural gas stem from a pro-found conviction that this fuel iscompatible with sustainable develop-

ment. Indeed, we see that natural gasnot only contributes to mitigate carbonintensity and pollution effects resultingfrom the energy-related activities, but italso supports access to modern energy— while improving availability and reli-ability of energy supply.

Bangladesh is also trying to go forcleaner fuel considering the impact ofclimate change. What strategyBangladesh should follow to make thistransition?

We think that the government ofBangladesh’s vision to expand the roleof natural gas is in the right direction.We consider the recent announcementto review the plans of building largenew coal-fired power capacities as apositive step towards the transition toclean energy.

We do understand that Bangladesh hasto meet its growing energy needs, par-ticularly for power generation, wherethere is a huge need to add baseload ca-pacities. But, it is important to opt forclean, reliable and stable sources of en-ergy, such as natural gas. The CCGTs,for instance, offer huge advantages interms of efficiency and flexibility andcan be an appropriate option to avoidlock-in in the coal-based pollutingsource.

The key positive impact of expandingthe role of natural gas will be less airpollution, and we had the opportunityto see with Covid-19 lockdowns thebenefits of having clean air in the oth-erwise polluted urban centres. Otheradvantages of natural gas can stem fromthe conversion of the existing oil-firedpower stations in the country to moreefficient and competitive options.

Besides, small scale LNG offers a goodopportunity through projects that canbe dedicated to feeding power stations,industrial activities or even refuellingstations for the transport sector. We seethe real value of natural gas in the trans-port sector in Bangladesh, which canprocure a competitive source of energyfor transport vehicles, including trucksand buses in the country.

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EP