Bangladesh is ranked the fourth in the world among countries developing oil and gas power plant with 200GW worth capacity in different stages of developments, revealed a new report released on Thursday by the San Fransico-based non-government organisation Global Energy Monitor.
Bangladesh is also ranked the first in South Asia in terms of gas expansion, with approximately 41GW in development, more than double its current operating capacity, the report titled ‘Gas Glut 2023: Global Gas Power Continues to Thwart Energy Transition’ said.
Despite receiving an IMF loan, Bangladesh’s dollar crisis has been further exacerbated by rising capacity payments leading to power plant shutdowns.Struggling with acute power outage, Bangladesh’s rolling blackouts might continue until 2026.
As the benefits of a renewable pathway become evident, continued reliance on highly volatile imported LNG will pose an economic and energy security risk, the report said.Gas accounts for 55 per cent of electricity production in Bangladesh, with about a quarter of the gas imported.The majority of the planned gas build-out will rely on imported LNG.
The planned gas build-out in Bangladesh is at odds with the country’s power sector overcapacity, with some estimates as high as 50 per cent.The capacity utilisation is projected to decline further in the next decade as planned capacity additions come online.Asia has nearly two-thirds of the world’s oil and gas plant capacity in development, with China hosting a fifth of the world’s in development capacity.Construction began on 207-gigawatt of new oil- and gas-fired power plants, a 23 per cent increase over the previous year. Almost three-quarters of this capacity is in Asia, mainly concentrated in China.Asia, with 514GW at an estimated total cost of $385 billion, has nearly two-thirds of the world’s oil- and gas-fired capacity in development.Southern Asia, home to Bangladesh, has 72GW of oil- and gas-fired capacity in development, at an estimated cost of $59 billion.Expanding oil and gas capacity represents a costly stranded asset risk while also diverting resources away from the energy transition, said the report.Despite announced clean energy goals, the United States leads the globe in existing oil- and gas-fired capacity, with 26 per cent of the world’s total, and still generates a significant amount of its power from fossil fuels.‘The severity of gas’ impact on the climate is better understood every day because it leaks the potent greenhouse gas methane. And extreme weather events are causing fossil fuel power plants to fail. Still, the transition away from oil and gas is not happening anywhere near fast enough,’ Jenny Martos, project manager for the Global Oil and Gas Plant Tracker, developed by the GEM, was quoted as saying in the press release.
Source : New Age Bangladesh
