'Adani' Promised To Supply Power In Reduced Price: Report

India's Adani Power on Thursday promised to supply electricity to Bangladesh at a reduced price keeping consistent with the generation cost in the country's existing coal-fired plants. "The Adani will import the coal for its plants at the same price the Bangladeshi coal-run plants do for themselves," the mass-circulation Prothom Alo newspaper reported quoting an Adani official.

It said the Indian company agreed to revise its procurement price for coal to keep the per unit power price almost equal to those of Bangladeshi coal-fired plants like the Rampal and Payra, the two joint-venture installations with India and China. "A responsible official of Adani group in Bangladesh has confirmed the development to Prothom Alo," the newspaper reported while Bangladesh officials declined to comment immediately.

Bangladesh's state-run Power Development Board (PDB) earlier this month sought to revise to a 2017 power purchase agreement with Adani Power Ltd as the price for the coal-generated electricity appeared too expensive. A senior PDB official on Thursday, however, briefly said Adani Power sent a five-member delegation for negotiation with Bangladeshi officials as the "high coal price" to be purchased for the Adani plant at India's Jharkhand emerged as the key factor for the dispute.

Media reports earlier said Bangladesh sought the price revision after it received a request from Adani Power in relation to opening LCs in India to import the coal for the 1,600 MW plant in the Godda district of Jharkhand. "In our view, the coal price they have quoted (USD 400/MT) is excessive - it should be less than USD 250/MT, which is what we are paying for the imported coal at our other thermal power plants," an official said earlier preferring anonymity.

Adani Power requires a demand note from Bangladesh that will be presented to Indian authorities before opening LCs against the coal import as their plant is meant for exporting power to the neighbouring country. The US-based Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) earlier in a 2018 report called the Adani project to be "too expensive and too risky for Bangladesh". Bangladesh currently imports 1,160MW of electricity from India while the 2017 agreement it is supposed to buy electricity from Adani Power Ltd for 25 years and start getting electricity from March this year.

(PTI)