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Bangladesh power system gets dirtier on fast coal usage growth: Maguire

Coal is on course to overtake gas as the main source of electrical power in Bangladesh, worsening regional emissions and complicating worldwide efforts to cut use of highpolluting fossil fuels.

Bangladesh power companies more than doubled coal-fired electrical power generation in 2023 from 2022 to a record 17 terawatt hours (TWh), information from energy think tank Coal shows.

Over the exact same duration, natural gas-fired electricity output increased by simply 4.7% to 47.44 TWh.

The sharp jump in coal usage relative to natural gas use resulted in a large swing in the nation's electrical power generation mix, with coal accounting for a record 21.1% share of overall generation, up from just 7% two years previously.

The share of natural gas-fired output was up to around 59% in 2023 from 66% in 2021 and 76.4% in 2019.

If utilities keep increasing coal-fired generation at a. much faster speed than gas-fired output, coal could emerge as the. primary source of electricity in Bangladesh within the existing. decade, undermining worldwide efforts to cut coal usage.

UNDER PRESSURE

Bangladesh, among the world's largest clothing manufacturers and. exporters, has experienced sharp growth in energy demand from. its population and companies. The nation has garment factories. that consume power all the time, and total energy usage also. has actually climbed up along with economic development.

Real gross domestic product (GDP) development in Bangladesh has. balanced 6.2% over the previous five years, more than two times the. global average, according to the International Monetary Fund.

The county's power suppliers have struggled to keep up,. resulting in regular power failures in 2015.

To prevent comparable problems in 2024, authorities have actually directed. electrical power generators to utilize more coal, and have actually approved. record large coal imports.

The nation already gets routine thermal coal materials. by truck and train from neighbour India, however in 2023 likewise. improved seaborne imports by 47% to a record 12.7 million metric. heaps, according to deliver tracking information assembled by Kpler.

Bangladesh's average yearly seaborne imports from 2017 to. 2021 were 6.8 million heaps, so the jump to near to 13 million. heaps in 2015 helped raise the country to 12th on the list of. global thermal coal importers in 2023, from 14th in 2022.

With numerous nations taking actions to progressively lower. coal-fired power generation and imports, Bangladesh will likely. increase even more in coal import rankings.

EMISSIONS AFFECT

Coal-fired generation has actually pressed Bangladesh power sector. emissions to tape highs: just under 60 million tons of carbon. dioxide emissions in 2023, up from 58.3 million loads in 2022,. according to Cinder.

That emissions load was roughly a 24% rise from 2019.

The carbon intensity of electrical power generation has also. climbed. Roughly 741,500 tons of co2 was emitted to. produce each kilowatt hour of electrical energy produced in 2023, up. from 723,200 tons in 2022 when coal usage was approximately half of the. levels seen in 2023.

Coal-fired generation is still increasing, with 2.11 TWh of. electrical energy produced from coal in January, up sharply from 0.83. TWh a year earlier.

Imports of thermal coal are likewise increasing, with seaborne. purchases through March amounting to simply over 3 million loads, up. from around 2.5 million lots throughout the same period in 2023.

If Bangladesh's coal usage and imports stay strong, 2024. will likely set a record for both coal-fired generation and. emissions. It could possibly offset any declines seen. somewhere else in regards to coal intake and contamination, with. Bangladesh emerging as a center for coal need even as much of the. rest of the world turns its back on the fuel.

<< The opinions revealed here are those of the author, a. columnist .>

(source: Reuters)