Bangladesh scraps nine coal power plants as overseas finance dries up

(Climate Home News, 25 Feb 2021) Bangladesh plans to scrap nine new coal projects as the cost of imported coal rises and overseas investors slash finance for polluting fossil fuels.

The country’s power secretary Habibur Rahma decided to axe the planned coal-fired power plants with a combined power capacity of 7,461 MW at a monthly review meeting of the power sector, Bangladeshi newspaper the Daily Sun reported this week.

Analysts told Climate Home News that a number of factors have contributed to this decision, ranging from the high cost of imported coal to the drop in financial support from overseas investors. 

They said that exact details of Bangladesh’s transition away from coal are expected this summer, when the government outlines its power sector master plan. 

Bangladesh’s energy minister Nasrul Hamid told the Daily Sun that procuring coal had become a major problem after China struck a three-year supply deal in November to buy nearly $1.5bn worth of thermal coal from Indonesia — Bangladesh’s main coal supplier

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Climate Home News, 25 Feb 2021: Bangladesh scraps nine coal power plants as overseas finance dries up