Bangladesh is facing increasing load-shedding as technical issues have forced the shutdown of two 800 MW units at Adani Power’s 1,600 MW coal-fired plant in Jharkhand.

According to official sources, electricity generation from Unit-1 was halted on April 1, while Unit-2 ceased production in the early hours of Friday, at 1 am.

Data from Power Grid Bangladesh PLC, which tracks hourly power generation and transmission statistics, reveals that the country faced its highest load shedding of 428 MW at 3 pm on Saturday, a weekly holiday when electricity demand is typically lower than on working days.

“This has been the highest amount of load-shedding in recent days when usually power shortages remained between 50-150 MW,” said a Power Grid official.

Officials at the Power Grid Bangladesh PLC and the Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) apprehend that the shutdown of one of the largest sources of power supply may lead to further increase in load shedding on working days.

“The extent of load-shedding may further increase on Sunday with the start of the working days of the week,” a top official at the BPDB told UNB.