Maintenance & Operation of 2×120 MW Peaking Power Plant at Siddhirganj

Abstract

Bangladesh is a country with very high demand of electricity. It has ever growing large population to be provided with electricity. Therefore, the necessity of electricity is growing day by day. But unfortunately, there are certain drawbacks in the power sector that has pulled down the growth of electricity generation. Main reasons off course are poor financial and operational performance, scarcity of fuel (for those plant which runs by natural gas as fuel). Even though there has been a lot of reformatting initiatives made since our independence, but still the Government lag behind to provide required power to its people. In Bangladesh, the present maximum demand of electricity varies from 4,500 MW to 5,600 MW and it is expected to rise more in coming years. But currently maximum generation of power available is not up to the mark. It is because of old set up and inefficiency of the maximum power plant. In EGCB (Electricity Generation Company Bangladesh Ltd.), there are two units each of which has capacity of generating 120 MW electricity. The fuel that is used here is natural gas taken from Titas Gas Company Ltd. But due to insufficient gas supply, the plant’s present maximum production capacity is 220 MW (if fuel supply is adequate enough) and regular production is 170-180 MW. During our internship in EGCB (Electricity Generation Company Bangladesh Ltd.), we worked on the generation and distribution of power in practical field. Here we worked as a team and was involved in generator section, transformer section, gas turbine, substation and control room. In all of these sections, we were demonstrated how these systems work and what protective measures are taken for them. The on duty engineer showed us how each of the unit works (as a whole) with proper synchronization of gas booster, combustion chamber and turbine. Then the generated power is transmitted through substation to grid by various step-up and step-down transformers. We got to learn the importance of protection and switch gear system for the plant and how do they work. At the end, the whole internship was a proper combination of our theoretical and practical knowledge which will help and guide us to deal real life problems in power sector.