The $1.6 billion project was financed by the Export-Import Bank of India. The new coal-fired TPP is situated within 14 km from the Sundarbans National Park, which is home to the largest mangrove forest on the planet. For that reason, the project initially envisaged the use of technologies minimising environmental impacts. Both power units of the power plant (each with a capacity of 660 MW) are equipped with steam boilers operating under ultra-supercritical conditions (pressure of 320 bar and temperature of 600 degrees Celsius). This will make it possible to convert thermal energy into electricity with an efficiency of 43%, which is higher than the efficiency of subcritical coal-fired TPPs (34%) and supercritical (38.5%) ones.
In addition, both power units are equipped with filters for flue gas desulfurisation, as well as a waterless ash removal system. This will prevent the formation of a traditional-type ash dump, which forms in a pit at the coal-fired TPP dumping ground, the water in which often becomes turquoise in color due to the reaction of microelements in loamy soil with process water and the salts of calcium and metal oxides.
The launch of the second power unit of the Maitree Super Thermal TPP will increase the role of coal in the power industry of Bangladesh. According to the Ember think tank, the share of coal-fired TPPs in Bangladesh’s energy mix stood at 14.3% in 2022, whereas the share of gas-fired TPPs reached 60.5% and that of diesel generators was 23.2% (with RES accounting for 2%). At the same time, the country is characterised by explosive growth in energy demand: domestic power consumption more than doubled in the period from 2012 to 2022, from 45.8 TWh to 92.8 TWh.
