Energy dev authority planned

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FHM Humayan Kabir
The government plans to form a sustainable energy development authority to find out options for alternative energy use instead of fossil fuel and conventional biomass to ensure energy security in Bangladesh, officials said Thursday.
Energy division officials said they would sit at the secretariat on October 20 to finalise the structure and functions of the Sustainable Energy Development Authority (SEDA).
"A draft on the structure of the authority has already been prepared in consultation with government agencies. If the next meeting approves it we will send the draft to the higher authority for finalisation," a senior energy official told the FE.
Enactment of a law is needed before launching the SEDA, he said adding, "The authority will have a five-member board with the chairman as its head."
Bangladesh, one of the energy hungry countries with eight per cent annual demand growth faces massive electricity supply shortage.
The country's power production has been hampered over the last couple of years as the primary energy - natural gas -- production is shrinking. More than 80 per cent power in the country is generated utilising gas as the primary fuel.
The state-run Petrobangla said that the existing recoverable natural gas reserve would start depleting from 2013 if there is no further discovery in the future.
The energy division official said the proposed SEDA would encourage the public and private sectors to establish small and medium renewable energy enterprises and providers, create a market opportunity and start-up business models.
"To encourage private sector investment, the SEDA would work out ways for expediting utilisation of the renewable energy, especially the green energy, against the backdrop of the global warming across the country," he said.
The draft law said proposed SEDA would work to check the global warming, reduce vulnerability of the natural calamities and cut dependency on the fossil fuel for the future energy security.
The government has also taken steps to encourage generation of energy through biomass, and biogas due to the availability of rice-husk, crop residue, woods, jute stick and animal waste.
The government has already formulated a sustainable energy development policy recommending formation of the SEDA.
The energy division official said a "SEDA fund" would be created to run the authority, he said.
Experts said the main renewable energy resources in Bangladesh are biomass, solar, wind and hydropower. The hydropower potential of Bangladesh is low due to the relative flatness of the country.
Wind power generation in the country has certain limitations due to lack of reliable wind speed data and the remarkable seasonal variation of wind speed. The country has good prospects of utilising solar photovoltaic (PV) systems for electricity generation, but the high capital investment cost is a big barrier for adopting such systems, experts said.