Country sees 4,000-7,000MW power from sea waves: Study

The country can extract as much as 4,000 to 7,000 Mega Watts (MW) of electricity along 710 kilometres of coastline from the waves of the Bay of Bengal, a preliminary study done in Cox's Bazar claimed Saturday, reports BSS. Researchers of the two-year study said generation of electricity from sea waves was found to be the most feasible one than any other available renewable energy options such as solar and wind in terms of its cost and sustainability. The option would, however, be costly initially than the conventional sources of electricity from fossil fuels that include gas, oil and coal in Bangladesh, a power hungry country that requires more and more electricity to accelerate its over the 6 per cent economic growth and become a middle-income nation in next 10 years. "It's a blessing. We did not even think of such promising result that has shown us a new path of solutions to power deficit in Bangladesh," Professor Dr Kamrul Alam Khan told BSS in the city today. Kamrul, a physics professor of Jagannath University and a co- author of the study, said sea wave power can be generated at the onshore, near the shore and in the deep sea, but onshore power generation through LIMPET (land installed marine power energy transformer) would be realistic now as Bangladesh has a vast coastline ready. The researcher said an estimated Taka 75 crore is required to generate one megawatt of electricity through solar panels, while it cost Taka 20 crore for the wind power. But the wave energy generation for a megawatt would cost Taka 4 crore, a figure which is much higher than conventional methods of power generation. Asked how he finds wave energy generation feasible, Kamrul said initially the cost seemed to higher than traditional ones, but it would come down in next decade as the global forces were switching over to renewable energy options quickly. "The more you use, the more it would become cost-effective," he said reminding that wave energy would cost higher for the time being because it is an 'alternative' energy option. Any alterative would cost higher, he said and added that the world is likely to replace fossil fuel and nuclear energy options by 2050.