In 2017, the government approved six diesel-based power plants with a total capacity of 1,000 megawatts, despite low demand. These plants, operational since the following year, rarely exceeded 20% capacity utilization, leading to significant financial losses for the government. Over five years, these high-cost plants resulted in expenses of several thousand crores. In the 2019-20 fiscal year, they operated at an average of just 1%, with production costs reaching 173.59 Taka per unit. The most expensive plant incurred costs of 966.93 Taka per unit that year. Overall, the six plants produced 3,049 million kilowatt-hours over five years at a total cost of 15,980.45 crores Taka, averaging 52.48 Taka per unit. The costs varied widely among plants, with the most efficient one recording 35.78 Taka per unit and the least efficient exceeding 966 Taka in a single year. The operational challenges and high costs of these diesel plants have raised concerns about the financial sustainability of the country’s power generation strategy.
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