A Saudi company will build in Bangladesh high-tech solar power plants of up to 1,000-megawatt capacity under an accord signed in Dhaka, to accelerate the country's switch to renewable energy.
Saudi Arabia's ACWA Power inked the memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) in the process of setting up the solar power plant, officials said.
This is part of government's latest move toward striking new contracts to generate electricity from renewable energy and bring them online within the next one and a half years to meet growing demand for electricity without having to use scarce fossil fuels.
Use of solar, wind and hydropower is also now a global recipe for switch to clean energy in order to curb global warming with emission of greenhouse gases and save the planet from rising calamities of storms and droughts.
Under the initial deal, ACWA Power will provide fiscal and technological support to build solar power plants in Bangladesh, while the BPDB will provide administrative support.
The government has been working to promote renewable energy and state-run Sustainable and Renewable Energy Development Authority (SREDA) has been providing necessary technological support and consultations, State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid said at the MOU-signing ceremony at Biduyt Bhaban on Monday night.
He hopes the investment and technology from ACWA will help Bangladesh achieve its clean-energy goal by 2041.
Application of modern technology is essential to overcome the land-scarcity-related problem to install solar-power projects, he said, adding: "ACWA will bring that solution which will help achieve our goal for 2041."
BPDB Board Secretary Mohammad Selim Reza and ACWA Power business- development department's executive director, Ayad Al Amri, inked the deal on behalf of their respective side.
Officials mentioned a decision the government recently made to increase the use of renewables against the backdrop of scarcity of conventional fuels like petroleum products, natural gas, and liquefied natural gas (LNG) and their soaring prices on the international market.
"Bangladesh will be able to reduce the import of fossil fuels and save valuable foreign currency with the implementation of the planned renewable-energy projects," says a senior energy ministry official.
The country currently has a dozen under-construction renewable-energy-based projects to add around 562MW electricity in total, according to statistics of the Power Division.
Of the total renewable-energy projects under construction, solar-based power plants being built by private sector, including Beximco group, are eight in number and will have generation capacity of 406.5 MWs in total.
Beximco Ltd was recently awarded solar module, solar engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) main plant, switchyard and substation contracts to build a 230MW solar utility-scale power plant at Sundarganj in Gaibandha district in Rangpur Division.
State-run power companies are building two solar-power plants to generate 51MW electricity in total.
Private-sector sponsors are also building one wind-based power plant to generate 60MW electricity and one waste-based power plant to generate 42.5 MWs.
One state-run power entity is building another 2.0MW-capacity wind-based power plant, the Power Division statistics show.
Bangladesh has very low renewables-based generation, with hydropower at 230 MWs or 1.0 per cent of total and solar at 229 MWs or 1.0 per cent of the country's total power-generation capacity of 21,710 MWs.
Meanwhile, the ACWA Power company also inked a separate MOU with BPDB in October 2019 to invest around US$ 3.0 billion in gas-fired projects and land- based re-gasification terminal.
The MOU was aimed at building an LNG-based power plant and terminal in Bangladesh, said a senior BPDB official.
Under the 2019 accord, ACWA Power targeted to develop 3,600MW gas-fired power plants with total investment of around $2.5 billion.
Some $500 million worth of investment was targeted for building an LNG re-gasification terminal at Maheshkhali island in the Bay of Bengal.
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