Adani Power to supply power at reduced price to Bangladesh
India’s Adani Power on Thursday (February 23) promised to supply electricity to Bangladesh at a reduced price keeping consistent with the generation cost in the country’s existing coal-fired plants.
“Adani Power will import the coal for its plants at the same price the Bangladeshi coal-run plants do for themselves,” the mass-circulation Prothom Alo newspaper reported quoting an Adani official.
Adani agrees to reduce coal procurement price
It said the Indian company agreed to revise its procurement price for coal to keep the per unit power price almost equal to those of Bangladeshi coal-fired plants like the Rampal and Payra, the two joint-venture installations with India and China.
A responsible official of the Adani group in Bangladesh has confirmed the development to Prothom Alo, the newspaper reported while Bangladesh officials declined to comment immediately.
Also read: Bangladesh wants revision of 2017 power purchase deal with Adani
Bangladesh’s state-run Power Development Board (PDB) earlier this month sought to revise a 2017 power purchase agreement with Adani Power Ltd as the price for the coal-generated electricity appeared too expensive.
A senior PDB official on Thursday (February 23), however, briefly said Adani Power sent a five-member delegation for negotiation with Bangladeshi officials as the high coal price to be purchased for the Adani plant at India’s Jharkhand emerged as the key factor for the dispute.
Bangladesh had objected to the excessive price of coalÂ
Media reports earlier said Bangladesh sought the price revision after it received a request from Adani Power in relation to opening LCs in India to import the coal for the 1,600 MW plant in the Godda district of Jharkhand.
“In our view, the coal price they have quoted (USD 400/MT) is excessive – it should be less than USD 250/MT, which is what we are paying for the imported coal at our other thermal power plants,” an official said earlier preferring anonymity.
Also read: Adani Power’s ₹7,000 crore deal to acquire DB Power falls through
Adani Power requires a demand note from Bangladesh that will be presented to Indian authorities before opening LCs against the coal import as their plant is meant for exporting power to the neighbouring country.
The US-based Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) earlier in a 2018 report called the Adani project to be too expensive and too risky for Bangladesh.
Bangladesh currently imports 1,160MW of electricity from India. According to the 2017 agreement, it is supposed to buy electricity from Adani Power Ltd for 25 years and start getting electricity from March this year.
(With agency inputs)
