A proper funding from the government and development partners is needed to harness the true potential of renewable energy, said Mohammad Alauddin, chairman of Sustainable and Renewable Energy Development Authority.
To counter the impact of climate change, which scientists have termed as an existential threat to humanity fueled by excessive use of coal for electricity and by carbon dioxide emission, “there is no alternative to switching to renewable energy from fuel and coal-fired power,” Alauddin said, speaking to The Business Post ahead of the budget for 2021-2022.
The Sustainable and Renewable Energy Development Authority (SREDA) chairman said that the Bangladesh government have invested around $700 million in the green energy sector over the past 10 years and Infrastructure Development Company Limited (IDCOL) invested around $582 million.
Bangladesh has set a target of generating 10 per cent electricity from environment-friendly green sources, which is to be 2,000 Megawatts (MW) by 2021, out of a primary estimation of 20,000MW as outlined in the revised Power System Master plan-2016 (PSMP).
According to the latest data of SREDA, renewable energy contributes to 723MW which is 3.4 per cent behind the 10 per cent target.
“According to current investment trends in this sector, it will take up to the year 2024 to generate 2,000MW of electricity from environment-friendly green sources. Producing that much of electricity from renewable sources by 2021 is not feasible considering the flow of investment in this sector,” Alauddin said.
He claims Bangladesh needs three times more the current investment in the renewable energy sector to meet the target of generating 10 per cent electricity from renewable energy sources.
“Lack of bankable data and resource mobilisation has also hamstrung the prospect of renewable energy in the country,” he added.
Bankable data is information that presents viability of the project and insurance of returning the investment.
Alauddin blamed land scarcity, lack of electricity-grade solar power, wind power, grid integrated renewable sources, high cost of storing energy, shortage of bankable data and inadequate access to finance to be some of the stumbling blocks in promoting renewable energy in Bangladesh.
“There is no comprehensive research on renewable energy resources which is crucial for fetching local and foreign investment. There are some research projects carried out on solar power which are also not enough in promoting solar power in the country,” said SREDA chairman.
“To promote renewable energy, we should invest in research and investors will be then able to finance projects based on the findings of those researches, if they deem them viable,” he added.
SREDA is eyeing to generate 500MW to 600MW electricity from rooftop solar panels within a year.
Alauddin said, “Recently, we have received a feasible business model for rooftop solar power from private sectors and hope to go ahead with this plan. Under the plan, we will be able to generate 500MW to 600MW electricity from rooftop solar panels within a year if things go according to the plan considering the Covid-19 induced problems”.
Land scarcity is a major problem in establishing a large-scale solar panel as it demands huge swaths of land.
“Being a very densely populated country, we have resource constraints such as land unavailability. To establish a solar park, we need a huge swath of land coupled with high intensity of sun. However, sun intensity (the amount of incoming solar energy that reaches the Earth) in our country is moderate, 4 to 5-kilowatt hour per square metre in different regions. Power generation from solar energy depends on the intensity of the sun,” SREDA chairman said.
Study shows that intensity of the sun in India is 7-kilowatt hour per square metre as this country has desert and uncultivated land in a vast swath of the region.
“One of the main problems with solar power is the high cost of electricity conservation. The battery that is used to preserve electricity generated from solar power for nighttime use is expensive. But the good news is that the price of renewable energy gadgets is coming down,” he added.
Power cell data shows that the installed capacity of electricity so far stands at 25,138MW. Nearly half (45.16 per cent) of the electricity comes from gas-fired power plants, which is equivalent to 11,352MW, followed by 29.07 per cent from oil-fired power plants (heavy fuel oil — HFO and high-speed diesel — HSD) which is 7,334MW.
The data also shows that captive power plants basically installed for industrial consumption generate 11.14 per cent of electricity equivalent to 2,800 MW, followed by 7.03 per cent equivalent to 1,768MW from coal-fired power plants. Imported electricity contributes 4.61 per cent to the total generation capacity, which is 1,160MW.
