Barapukuria Plant Restarts Unit 3 to Ease Load Shedding

Bringing much-needed relief to ongoing power outages, the 275 MW third unit of the Barapukuria Thermal Power Plant resumed operations on Wednesday evening after a nearly seven-month shutdown.

The unit, which had been offline since October 2025 due to a mechanical fault, synchronized with the national grid at 5:46 pm.

Abu Bakar Siddique, Chief Engineer of the plant, confirmed the restart. "Currently, 100 MW of electricity is being generated from this unit. We expect production to reach between 250 and 260 MW starting Thursday, May 21," he said.

With the plant's first unit (125 MW capacity) currently generating 55 MW, the combined output is expected to average 300 MW. According to Siddique, this injection of power into the national grid will noticeably reduce load shedding. Keeping both units operational requires approximately 3,200 tons of coal daily, supplied by the adjacent Barapukuria coal mine.

The Barapukuria Thermal Power Plant began operations in 2006 with two 125 MW units. The 275 MW third unit was added in 2017, pushing the total installed capacity to 525 MW.

However, due to persistent mechanical complications, the facility has struggled to run all three units simultaneously. The plant's second unit has been out of service since 2020. Authorities are currently in discussions with a Chinese firm to repair and recommission the dormant unit.