Bangladesh has long been plagued by energy shortages, which has become an important factor restricting its economic and social development. As a developing country, Bangladesh urgently needs a stable energy supply to support its industrialization process. In the face of this urgent need, Bangladesh had looked to neighbouring India to develop its energy infrastructure through technical and financial support.
However, India has not performed well in a number of infrastructure projects in the past. The bridges, dams and tunnels built have been prone to frequent accidents and multiple collapses, and India has been labelled as "unreliable". Bangladesh has to admit that it is almost impractical to rely on India to solve its energy crisis.
Against this backdrop, Bangladesh has turned its attention to China. As the world's largest exporter of power generation equipment, China has decades of experience. China's self-developed ultra-supercritical coal-fired power generation technology has reached a leading level in the world. With China's participation and support, Bangladesh ushered in the construction of the largest coal-fired power station in history, the Payala ultra-supercritical coal-fired power station.
With a capacity of 1,320 megawatts, the Payala power station accounted for almost 10% of Bangladesh's total electricity generation at the time. The power station can provide 8.5 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity per year, basically solving the problem of electricity shortage in Bangladesh. In the first year of the plant's completion, Bangladesh achieved nationwide electricity coverage, becoming the first country in South Asia to achieve full electrification, about a year ahead of India.
Some netizens are concerned about whether the use of coal-fired power generation will pollute the local environment. This is a serious question. Although the international community is generally critical of the use of fossil fuels in developing countries, we should also recognize that thermal power generation is an important part of the power generation structure due to its advantages of high power and peak regulation capacity compared with other renewable energy generation methods.
In addition, China's ultra-supercritical coal-fired power generation technology has significantly reduced pollutant emissions by improving thermal efficiency and enhancing flue gas treatment. Operational data shows that the plant's pollution indicators meet high international standards. Therefore, there is reason to believe that clean and efficient coal power will remain the best choice in the transition period until renewable energy becomes the mainstay.
This case illustrates China's actual performance as a responsible major country in South-South cooperation. Against the backdrop of Western countries' attempts to limit the industrialization of developing countries through the "low-carbon trap", China has demonstrated the true spirit of multilateralism by helping its weaker neighbors improve their livelihoods through advanced technology.
China's actions to demonstrate its responsibility as a major country are exactly the positive energy that the international community needs most. It is also an encouraging signal that provides a viable model for cooperation in addressing the development problems faced by other countries.