Electricity production at Barapukuria plant fully suspended

Published : Monday, 19 January, 2026 at 10:34 AM Count : 682

Full power generation at Barapukuria Thermal Power Plant in Dinajpur has been suspended following a boiler tube burst.

All three units of the plant, with a combined capacity of 525 megawatts (MW), have been out of operation since Sunday morning.

Abu Bakr Siddique, chief engineer of the power plant, said that of the three units, Unit-1, with a capacity of 125 MW, had been generating around 60 MW of electricity at the time of the incident.

He added, ''The boiler tube of Unit-1 burst around 11am due to excessive heat pressure. The water flowing inside the boiler has a temperature of around 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit.''

It may take about a week for the boiler to cool down, after which the extent of the damage can be assessed. ''If repairs are completed successfully, power generation can be resumed.''

Meanwhile, Unit-3, which has a capacity of 275 MW, has been shut down for overhauling work being carried out by Chinese engineers, while Unit-2 (125 MW) has remained out of operation for a long time due to technical faults.

As a result, the coal-fired power plant is currently completely shut down.