Speakers at a seminar highlighted the importance of modernising the grid and involving the young generations to tackle Bangladesh’s future challenges for sustainable energy.
As students are the country’s future leaders, involving them from early stages would allow them to learn, acquire, retain and apply knowledge and skills, which will ultimately boost the power sector, and a smart grid revolution, they said.
The seminar titled “Exploring Smart Grid: Shaping the Future of Sustainable Energy” was held on Sunday at United International University (UIU), organised by Dhaka Power Distribution Company Limited (DPDC), and co-funded by EU and AFD, said a media release.
“Construction and Augmentation of Substation Installation of Capacitor Bank and Introduction of Smart Grid in Power System under DPDC Areas (CSCSG Project)” is a project initiated by DPDC, co-funded by the European Union (EU) and Agence Française du Développement (AFD).
The seminar hosted by UIU aimed to discover the endless possibilities of a smarter energy future. The event was facilitated by the implementing partner and official consultant organization NKSoft Corporation, USA.
The chair of the session was Prof Dr Hasan Sarwar, dean (School of Science and Engineering), United International University (UIU); the special guest was Engr Bikash Dewan, managing director of DPDC. Seminar moderation and keynote speech were managed by the consultants from NkSoft Corporation, USA.
The EU was represented by its Energy Team consisting of Enrico Lorenzon, first secretary and team leader and Chiara Vidussi, attaché and project manager.
Lorenzon addressed the audience to underline the relevance of this project as a first stepping stone towards a greener, more efficient and reliable power system in Bangladesh.
Thibaut Hamm, project officer of AFD, also highlighted the importance of modernizing the grid and involving the young generations, which represent the future of this country, to tackle Bangladesh’s challenges of tomorrow.
The seminar had the objective to raise awareness on Smart Grid among the next generation talents, to bring them on this journey to make the country, and its power system, smarter.
The event started with a welcome speech by Abdul Alim, Project Director, CSCSG Project and finished with a speech by Prof Md Shahriar Ahmed Chowdhury, director of CER, UIU.
Bikash Dewan said Smart Grid is the first initiative of Smart Bangladesh so they have to move on with innovations and skilled manpower as energy is one of the main sources of the country’s economic growth today.
“Power Factor Improvement and Smart Grid under Dhaka Power Development Company (DPDC)” is a blended finance project where an EU grant is combined with a soft loan from AFD, for a total of EUR 112 million.
A total of 1,141,000 people will benefit from a significant improvement in the quality of electricity service, and it helps fight climate change by preventing an accumulated 104,000 tons of CO2 emissions per year. It is the first-ever smart grid project in Bangladesh.
Through this project, AFD and the EU are reinforcing their role in supporting the government in the development and rollout of advanced digital solutions in distribution stations and medium-voltage grids.
