Harnessing renewable energy

Bangladesh is looking for global experts to collaborate, finance and develop the renewable energy potential of the country. Technology transfer is of great importance in this regard, where local experts would develop their capacity to run renewable energy projects. The Bangladesh foreign minister mentioned the government’s intent regarding renewable energy to the envoys of European countries in a recent meeting. He also said the government was seeking concessional loans and was open to public-private collaboration in his regard.

The country is working towards achieving a net-zero carbon emission target by the year 2050. Bangladesh recognises the need to limit average temperature rises to1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels, strengthen adaptation to the impacts of climate change and scale up finance. Bangladesh government called for increased climate action in the lead up to the COP26 Summit to be held in November this year.

The G20 leaders are pledge-bound to curb global carbon emission, arrest global temperature and extend climate finance. They are also committed to transfer of low-carbon technology to countries severely affected by climate atrocities because of global warming.  While meeting the representatives from the European countries, Bangladesh brought up the topic of collaborating on wind power energy technology as there is high potential of harnessing this power in the country.  

The progress in achieving the target for electricity is quite impressive in Bangladesh. While in 1980, only 0.016 per cent of the population had access to electricity, today, 85 per cent of them enjoy power. But, as said earlier, the country plans to reduce dependence on fossil fuel and natural gas as energy sources and install green energy sources to minimize carbon emission.

The renewable energy policy guidelines were published in 2008 by the local Ministry of Power, Energy, and Mineral Resources, but so far progress remains slow. Over 65 per cent of the power generation currently is dependent on natural gas. However, the use of wind, hydropower and solar PV is also growing at a slow pace.

The installed renewable power capacity in Bangladesh at the end of 2018 was 579 MW. The share is as follows – solar PV (59.5 per cent), small-scale hydropower (39.7 per cent), biomass and biogas (0.8 per cent).

Experts say that the potential for a swift transition and a diversified renewable energy mix is present in the country. According to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), there are also over 20 000 km2 of land where the wind speeds vary between 5.75 and 7.75 m/s. This equals a potential of over 30 000 MW.

On the issue of the government’s efforts to help the renewable energy sources transition, the government has taken a policy of installing rooftop solar panels on all educational facilities to feed additional solar power to the grid. It has also been revealed that the country will soon get the Electric Vehicle Registration and Operation Guidelines, proposed in 2018 and start building solar charging stations for EVs with an average capacity of 20 kilowatts.

According to the World Bank, ‘Renewable energy in Bangladesh is an energy sector with room to grow. As of 2019, Bangladesh is among the top 6 global economies in terms of annual GDP growth. To satisfy its energy consumption needs, the country currently relies mainly on natural gas and biofuels. The bank reports, Bangladesh runs a successful off-grid renewable energy programme. The country hosts one of the largest domestic solar power programmes in the world which covers over 11 per cent of the total population.

However, this remains to be said that Bangladesh is among the worst-affected countries from global warming. According to a study from 2019, the coastal land and riverbanks are subjected to yearly erosion and flooding. This process complicates the renewable energy network development.

It is stressed that adoption of sustainable renewable energy technology will accelerate the country’s economic development and keep energy access reliable and affordable. Bangladesh continues to receive technical and financial support from various international partners in renewable transition. The country also continues to take advantage of the interest-free credits to finance its renewable energy projects.

No denying, for greater economic and environmental benefits, and to fulfil the zero-carbon emission commitment, we need to install renewable energy projects across the country.