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Abstract Bangladesh has developed a power generation expansion plan up to 2041. However, the plan did not fully consider the importance of sustainable development. This paper addresses this limitation and assesses both historical and future sustainability trends of Bangladesh's power generation system, as well as the sustainability of the Power System Master Plan (PSMP-2016) through multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) with respect to social, environmental, and economic dimensions of the sustainability framework. Out of a total of 19 sustainability indicators, there were 10 social, 4 environmental, and 5 economic indicators taken into account. It was found that Bangladesh's future power generation sector's sustainability is going to deteriorate from its present situation. Results of the analysis show that the sustainability index of 0.3769 in 2016 is going to degrade to 0.3249 in 2041. Most importantly, economic indicators dominate the sustainability measures, compared with social and environmental indicators. Thus, improvements in the economic indicators will result in a substantial increase in the sustainability index of the country's power generation sector. This indicates that energy policies need to be designed in such a way that a balance is achieved between all three dimensions to ensure a sustainable future electricity generation system. A similar analysis can also be applied to other countries where future power generation expansion planning is underway. Highlights • Sustainability assessment of power generation sector of Bangladesh. • Demonstrates sustainability indices for different power generation technologies. • Assesses sustainability trends of the future electricity generation system. • Supports sustainable power generation related policy development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]