Bangladesh needs clear roadmap on energy security

Energy security is the foundational block of the national and international energy frameworks globally. From the geostrategic perspective, energy security is also deemed critical for national and international sovereignties.

Bangladesh has been in the throes of an energy crisis in recent days. The problem is not just about electricity outages, as is often portrayed by policymakers, but it is actually far more complex and costly as the country is experiencing a certain level of energy insecurity.

Speakers at a webinar, organised by the Bangladesh Energy Society (BES) on Sunday emphasised effective demand-side load management and efficient use to solve the ongoing energy and power crisis. They have said that it is possible to save 250-300 million cubic feet of gas per day by reducing the gas system loss from 10 per cent to 2 per cent within six to 12 months. This will be an alternative to buying liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the spot market and provide more gas to the country’s industry, they said.

The speakers at the webinar suggested exploration and extraction of oil, gas and coal under long-term programmes, construction of infrastructure for LNG import and purchase of LNG under long-term contracts to tackle the crisis.

The prime minister’s energy adviser Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury said, “… the government has taken initiative to set up more floating storage and re-gasification units (FSRUs) across the country.” FSRU is known as an LNG terminal used to import gas in liquefied form and then re-gasified there before releasing it to the local supply network.

In recent decades, the concept of energy security has significantly evolved and has become broader and more meaningful. The traditional idea of energy security has been refined that the needed energy resources should not exist outside the geographic borders; in other words, a country should not be relying on energy imports. On top of this, the modern philosophy of energy security demands the energy supply to have three key dimensions; adequacy, consistency and affordability. Energy security with these three tentacles is at the heart of modern energy policies across the world. In fact, the energy policies of advanced countries have three essential pillars: ensuring energy security, promoting energy conservation and enhancing the share of environmentally-friendly renewable energy.

The gas production shortage in Bangladesh has exasperated the country’s industrial sector, mostly the textile and apparel, as yarn manufacturers are failing to meet the delivery target on time, affecting the entire production schedule to a large extent. The spinning mills and the dyeing and washing mills face trouble because of the low gas supply.

The situation also affects the country’s electricity generation, as most of our 126 power plants are run by natural gas.

We believe that Bangladesh should have vigorously exploited its indigenous gas and coal reserves to curtail dependence on imports. Furthermore, over the years enough attention has not been paid to boosting the water storage capacity by building reservoirs to support the energy and agriculture needs. The Russia-Ukraine war has shown us how vulnerable we are to external factors. The ongoing gas production may not remain at the same level unless we can explore new gas fields. We must have a clear roadmap for achieving energy security for our future. Otherwise, we may face a bleak future.

The time definitely has come for Bangladesh to realise the importance of energy security and develop its energy policy framework and implementation road map around it. Capitalisation of indigenous resources, both conventional and unconventional, and energy conservation and management would have to be at its heart. Solutions to problems must be holistic rather than unwarranted and makeshift. Setting up new power plants will not help much if they cannot deliver electricity at a price affordable to the common people. Energy should be seen not in isolation but in conjunction with economic, environmental and social development. . Technological self-reliance and human resource development should also be an integral part of Bangladesh’s energy security doctrine.