Bangladesh’s state-run North-West Power Generation Company signed a memorandum of understanding with Siemens to develop 3,600 MW of LNG-to-power project by 2021.
The project that would boost the country’s power production capacity by 20 percent would cost $2.8 billion, A.M. Khirshidul Alam , North-West Power Generation Company’s managing director, was cited by Reuters as saying.
He added that the project with a planned capacity of 3,600 megawatts, would be developed in three phases with the completion set for 2021.
Located in Payra in southern Patuakhali district, some 320 kilometers from Dhaka, the project would be fueled by imported liquefied natural gas (LNG).
Alam noted that LNG has been chosen as a cheaper and cleaner option as opposed to oil which has been declared too expensive due to the volatile price fluctuation.
Bangladesh’s natural gas resources, estimated at 12.68 trillion cubic feet are expected to be exhausted by 2030 if no new discoveries are made. The current lack of natural gas resources has the country producing a maximum of 10,000 megawatts despite the 15,000 megawatts capacity.
To provide resources for the power generation capacity, the country is developing LNG import terminals at Moheshkhali Island in the Bay of Bengal.
One terminal being developed by Excelerate is set to be commissioned by April 2018 and the second one being developed by Summit, is planned for commissioning by October 2018, respectively.
Both FSRUs have a 3.75 million tons of LNG per year capacity.