India's Adani plant is supplying power through one of its units due to technical glitches, a development that can increase load-shedding, said officials from the Bangladesh Power Development Board (PDB) and the Power Grid Bangladesh.

On April 8, the first of the power plant's two 800-megawatt (MW) units shut operation and the second one stopped operation on early Saturday at around 12:45am, said ABM Badiuzzaman, deputy manager (public relations) at the PGCB.

However, from 6:15 pm yesterday, electricity from unit 1 began to be added to the main grid, he said.

PGCB data shows that after the disconnection of the Adani plant, the power generation shortage stood at around 500 MW, the highest load-shedding this year.

Yesterday, at around 3.00pm, the power demand reached 14,000 MW while the supply was around 13,500MW.

Engineers have been trying to solve the issue and it may take more time, said PDB officials, adding that load-shedding would increase today as the weekend is over.

"To cover the shortfall, additional power is being generated from oil-based plants. If fuel supply is ensured, production can meet demand," said one of the officials.

Besides, the PDB has requested Petrobangla for additional gas supply to make up for the shortfall. In response, Petrobangla diverted gas supply from the fertiliser factories to the power sector.

Since Friday morning, the state-owned Chittagong Urea Fertiliser (CUFL) halted production as their gas supply was by the distributor company.

"We were informed that the gas supply would be suspended from Friday. So, we have shut down the plant accordingly," said CUFL's Managing Director Mizanur Rahman.

The ministry has instructed the suspension of gas supply to fertiliser factories for gas load management, said Shafiul Azam, general manager of Karnaphuli Gas Distribution Company.

"That is why the gas supply to CUFL has been stopped," he added.

The demand for fertiliser is currently low but is expected to rise from July, said CUFL officials. At present, CUFL has a stock of 100,000 tonnes of urea fertiliser.

Bangladesh has a 25-year agreement signed in 2017 to purchase electricity generated from the Adani plant.

The plant started commercial production in April 2023.

A committee by the interim government is currently reviewing the agreement with Adani.