Govt extends bid submission deadline for wind power plants

The government has extended the bid submission date for three wind power projects (each 50 MW capacity) by one month at the request of the bidders.

The plants will be set up in Chandpur's Kachua, Khulna's Mongla, and Cox's Bazar's Inani beach.

Official sources say state-owned Power Development Board (PDB), which invited the tender to implement the projects by private sector, rescheduled the closing date to July 30 from June 30.

A top official of the Power Division, under which the PDB is working as a government entity, said "a good number" of aspirant bidders, mainly from China and India, have shown interest in the projects.

They sought a deadline extension at a pre-bid meeting, he said, adding that the time was increased at their request, according to a UNB report Sunday.

Power Division sources said the government invited tender from private sponsors to set up the wind power plants on build-own-operate basis in the next two to three years. PDB will purchase electricity from the plants over a period of 20 years, they said.

Wind power generation is one of the untapped sectors in Bangladesh. Officials said the government's move is part of its strategy adopted in its Power System Master Plan to produce 10 percent of the total power from renewable sources.

Sources say the government had moved to implement a 100 MW wind power project in the offshore areas about eight years ago. But it has not been implemented yet due to the bidder's failure. Later, the government awarded a contract to an Indian consortium to set up a 30 MW wind power plant in Sonagazi upazila of Feni district.

Producing wind power requires no fuel and hence, no harmful gas is produced. Wind turns the turbines, which in turn, drive the generator.

But this green energy is not without criticism. It creates loud noise. And one of the disadvantages is that power generation depends on the strength of the wind. So, no wind means no electricity.

Sites for the three projects were selected after a wind mapping exercise with the financial support of the US National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

Nine sites were explored, said Mohammad Alauddin, joint secretary in-charge of renewable energy at the Power Division. He said that initially the three locations were selected as wind speed and velocity appeared very supportive for power generation.

Officials said a wind power plant needs stable wind with minimum speed of 5 metres per second. Wind speed at the three locations was found to exceed that.

They said a number of wind towers with turbines will be installed at each plant. Each of the turbines' power generation capacity will be between 5 MW and 7 MW.

As per the study, the tariff of each kilowatt hour of electricity might be Tk 8-9, the official said.