Rampal Power Plant Location
Google map view on Rampal Power Plant Location:
Tuesday, August 30, 2016
PM's Press Conference On Rampal
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has issued a strong rebuttal of the "propaganda" and "politically-motivated rhetoric" by the anti-Rampal campaign, saying those who failed to deliver even one megawatt of power were resorting to lies to malign her government.
"We did quick rentals, but that was no permanent solution," she said, "and even that drew fierce criticism from these people."
She took a dig at former prime minister and BNP chief Khaleda Zia and cited data and statistics to say that her political foe was trying to foment unrest with "completely false, fabricated and doctored data".
"If coal-fired power plants were that bad, why would a country like Japan go for it?" she asked. "Very recently, Japan has given go-ahead to coal-fired plants to produce 7,000 megawatts of electricity."
In China, she said, work on as many as 300 coal-powered plants is ongoing.
In the United States, she said, the 1,300-megawatt coal plant in West Virginia was located within one kilometre of the National Park.
In Germany, there are plants located in cities, she said.
The prime minister showed photographs of major coal-powered plants in different countries to assert the anti-Rampal campaign was a mere propaganda.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has said since coal-based power plants need cheap transport systems they are usually built near coal mines or coasts or rivers with good navigability. That was the reason, she said, why Rampal in the coastal district of Bagerhat was chosen for setting up the plant.
She said the other factor considered while choosing a place for any project was relocating a minimum number of people.
Dismissing BNP chief Khaleda Zia's claim that an 8,000-strong population in a 1,834-acre area had been evicted for the project, Hasina said there was no permanent habitation in the 'actually' 915-acre land for the plant. "Only low-lying barren fields have been filled up."
"Of the area, 465 acres will be used for the main plant. The rest of the place will be used for solar panels and plantation," she said.
The prime minister said people in the area dependent on the Sundarbans would not need to cut down trees once the plant was set up since Tk 300 million from the power plant company's CSR funds had been earmarked for the socioeconomic development of the area.
"Hundreds of thousands of people will be benefited," she said.
According to Hasina, the Rampal power plant will be built at a safe distance from the Sundarbans.
She noted that international laws bar coal-based power plants within 10 kilometres of any forest.
"This power plant will be 14 kilometres away from the perimeter of the Sundarbans and 65 kilometres from the World Heritage Site," she said.
The prime minister pointed out that Khaleda Zia had been wrong to compare India's law barring power plants 25 kilometres away from a forested area with that of a densely populated country like Bangladesh.
The prime minister said the plant would not affect the environment in the area because the authorities had taken steps to keep pollution of sound, water, air and light within the minimum level.
"Sound will be limited to 200 metres," she said.
A 'very insignificant' quantity of water would be used, she said, from the river Pashur to generate power, and added the used water would not be made to flow back into the river.
Hasina said the power plant in Rampal would be an ultra-supercritical one and could keep the pollution level at zero.
She suggested that critics of the plant visit the subcritical coal-based power plant, having 28 percent efficiency, in Barhapukuria. The Rampal plant would be up to 43 percent efficient, she said.
The coal needed to generate power would be imported from Australia, Indonesia and South Africa, Hasina said.
She said modern technologies like Real Time Continuous Emission Monitoring System (CEMS), Electro-Static Precipitator (ESP) and Flue Gas Desulphurisation (FGD) would be used to protect the environment.
CEMS will monitor the emission of harmful gases, ESP will filter up to 99.99 percent ash, and FGD will filter sulphur.
She said the carbon dioxide emitted from the 275-metre high chimney would be limited within 1.6 kilometres from the plant.
"The air in this area flows in a direction away from the Sundarbans. It means if harmful gases are emitted, they will not reach the Sundarbans," the prime minister said.
Copyright: bdnews24
Rampal Power Station Environmental issues
Most Important Concern:
Today’s most important concern for our country is power generation. The Government of Bangladesh is sourcing for every possible solution to meet the power crisis. In recent years coal-fired power plant is being heavily discussed. Like other Asian countries Bangladesh also wants to find a way to Energy solvency through Coal-fired Power Plants, Nuclear Power Plants and Renewable Energy Sources.
Bangladesh Government Plan:
The Bangladesh Government planned for a 1320 megawatt coal-fired power station at Rampal Upazila of Bagerhat District in Khulna. This work is proposed as a joint partnership between India's state-owned National Thermal Power Corporation and Bangladesh Power Development Board. The joint venture company is known as Bangladesh-India Friendship Power Company (BIFPC). The proposed project, on an area of over 1834 acres of land, is situated 14 kilometers north of the world's largest mangrove forest ‘Sundarbans’ which is a UNESCO world heritage site. It will be the country's largest power plant.
Coal-fired Rampal power plant planning is considered to be one of the most controversial decisions as this project has environmental issues. However the government of Bangladesh rejected allegations that the coal-based power plant would adversely affect the world’s largest mangrove forest. The energy advisor of the prime minister said that the controversy over the power plant and its impact on the Sundarbans was “not based on facts”. He also said that the plant will not negatively affect the mangrove forest because the emission of greenhouse gas will be kept at a minimum level. The government also affirmed they will import high quality coal, build a 275 meter high chimney and employ state-of-the-art technology to keep its impact on the Sundarbans at a negligible level.
The crucial discussion about environmental security of Sundarbans is not satisfied yet. Regarding this we tried to find out the natural capability of Sundarbans to face environmental changes after having the plant established for operation. We tried to figure out the approximate carbon emission of that power plant and calculated the tolerance level of Sundarbans by itself. Beside this we discussed about technologies which may actually secure Sundarbans from being destroyed.
How much Carbon Sundarbans will face daily:
Generally no power plant runs at their full capacity. Carbon emission depends on the amount of generation. To simplify our calculation we took an arbitrary generation profile for a typical day. Emissions also depend on quality of coal. There are several types of coal available in the international market which is popularly used in coal fired power plants. Below table shows the information of such categories of coal and their properties. We calculated on Bituminous which releases least carbon.
Reference: [The source of this information is according to the Independent Statistics and analysis: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Last Updated: 17April2014, www.eia.gov]
Fuel
CO2 emissions factor
(Lbs of CO2 per Million Btu)
Heat Rate
(Btu per kWh)
Lbs CO2 per kWh
(CO2 emissions factor×Heat Rate)/1000000
Bituminous
205.3
10,107
2.08
Sub-bituminous
212.7
10,107
2.16
Lignite
215.4
10,107
2.18
We can calculate the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) produced per kilo-watt-hour (kWh) for specific fuels and specific types of generators by multiplying the CO2 emissions factor (in pounds of CO2 per million Btu) by the heat rate of a generator (in Btu per kWh), and dividing the result by 1,000,000. Considering heatrate and carbon emission ratio bituminous can be an environmentally efficient choice as the primary fuel.
CO2 Emission in Million Kg = [(Output in MWh) × 1000 × {(CO2 emissions factor × Heat Rate) ÷1000000} × 0.453592] ÷ 1000000
Rampal Power Plant at Sundarbans in Bangladesh
Rampal Power Plant Project Map:
The activists pointed out that the contract for the power plant is non-transparent and unequal many alleged that Indian government will be more beneficial than the Bangladesh.
This is also one line of protest among the Bangladeshi people that Bangladeshi Government is sacrificing its people’s interest Also, different studies have observed that the project would severely affect the natural habitat of Sundarbans. Many scholarly studies found the proposed coal-fired power plant as the destroyer of the largest forest in Bangladesh.
Rampal Power Plant Agreements:
In August 2010, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) and India's state-owned National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) where they designated to implement the project by 2016. On January 29, 2012, the Bangladesh Power Development Board signed an agreement with NTPC to build the plant. The joint venture company is known as Bangladesh-India Friendship Power Company (BIFPC). The BPDB and the NTPC agreed to implement the project on a 50:50 equity basis.
The NTPC will set up and operate the plant.Bangladesh and India will equally share up to 30 per cent of the capital of this project as equity. The remainder of the capital, which might be equivalent to USD 1.5 billion, will be taken as bank loans with help from the NTPC. According to the sources in the Bangladesh Power Division, the joint venture company will enjoy a 15-year tax holiday.
