Even 12-13 years ago, the concept of renewable energy seemed to be a pipe dream to many in the country. Exceptions were there. They comprised dreamful optimists and those engaged in environment and development issues. Outshining the doomsayers, these quarters at one time threw their weight behind some wobbly village-based solar power projects. The year was 2003. The nation had long been beset with a crippling power crisis. Time could not have been better for making small leaps towards seeing the country's remote rural areas try solar home systems.
The initial doubts notwithstanding, in five to six years the country's outlying off-grid areas had started experiencing the gift of electricity generated by solar home systems (SHSs).
In May 2014, many parts of the rural Bangladesh became capable of boasting about 3.1 million home-based solar power systems.
The news on the outstanding achievement in solar power production came at a recent ceremony marking the installation of 3.1 million solar home systems in the country in a decade's time. At the function the Prime Minister announced the number would increase to six million by 2017.
The venture was launched by the state-owned Idcol (Infrastructure Development Company Ltd) with support coming from the World Bank, and some other donors and development partners. The three million SHSs in operation under the Idcol programme are generating 135 megawatt of electricity in the remote countryside.
Against the backdrop of the deprivation of off-grid village people in enjoying the fruits of electricity, the SHSs has come as a blessing. These villagers have reasons to feel indebted to the novel device of tapping solar power. The SHSs have brought about a virtual revolution. Using the power trapped from sunlight, more than 15 million rural people can now light their houses, operate fans, TVs and computers, and use a lot of small electrical appliances. To have their mobile phones charged, they just have to put the plug into the socket -- which was unthinkable a few years ago.
A major breakthrough made possible by solar power is in the operation of irrigation pumps. The pumps used to cost the poor farmers a lot, as the machines' operation required expensive diesel. Now an initial expenditure on installing the solar panels is all they need to manage. As the Prime Minister has observed at the programme, the solar power-operated irrigation projects will take a considerable load off from the national grid.
According to Idcol, more than 60,000 solar home systems are presently being installed a month in the country under its initiative. There are vast rural swathes in the country which haven't ever dared thinking of enjoying the benefits of electricity. Bio-gas-based power ventures could not take-off due to its apparently cumbersome process. But repeated efforts put in by the overseas donors to make people go for solar power did not go in vain.
The ventures began their journey humbly, with many remaining sceptical of any positive outcome. The people in off-grid areas who were virtually left to languish in the wilderness of villages, now have a taste of a radical gift of science. This is how life unfolds in a poor country.
Besides the off-grid areas, SHSs are also drawing enthusiastic consumers in regions covered by power grid.
The miseries caused by chronic power outages in the country's otherwise power line-linked villages are also prompting the enterprising rural people to toy with the idea of opting for solar power. The phenomenon has also caught up with the country's urban areas, including the capital.
That solar power will keep gaining popularity is beyond doubt. Despite its nature-triggered limitations in many countries, the sun-awash Bangladesh may soon see this alternative power in use at mass level. It's because solar power comes from nature, which does not make one enslaved to deliberate whims, and irregularities.
shihabskr@ymail.com