Govt eyes renewable energy sources for power generation
FE Report | Wednesday, 4 June 2008
The government has moved to tap the huge potentials of generating electricity from renewable energy sources to mitigate the nagging power crisis across the country, officials said.
"The country's first-ever renewable energy policy is being prepared to woo investments for electricity generation from renewable energy sources apart from from conventional sources," Power Secretary Dr M Fouzul Kabir Khan told the FE.
He said the Power Cell has been given the task to prepare the policy, under which a guideline would be prepared to boost electricity generation from renewable sources.
The government took the initiative to formulate the renewable energy policy, as it has been in dire straits to meet the mounting electricity demand of the commercial as well as residential consumers across the country.
Currently, the country's total power generation is hovering around 3,500-MW against the estimated demand for over 5,000-MW every day.
"We have started preparing the draft of the policy after having consultations with all the stakeholders of private and public sectors," a senior Power Cell official said.
He said discussions in this regard already took place with the stakeholders including Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB), Rural Electrification Board (REB), Local Government Engineering Department (LGED), Infrastructure Development Company Ltd (IDCOL) and Grameen Shakti.
So far several public, private and non-government organisations have installed a good number of units using renewable energy sources like solar power, wind and bio-gas across the country with financial assistance from the donor agencies to ease the electricity crisis.
The proposed renewable energy policy will contribute towards a smooth growth and expansion of these renewable energy projects across the country, a senior official said.
The main objectives of the proposed policy are to explore opportunities for community-based renewable energy options for different applications, and their multipurpose use in the country's off-grid areas.
Currently LGED has a number of solar power systems, with which it arranges production of solar power for the households and commercial shops of over 150 families including those of the tribal ones and fishermen.
The LGED also installed some ten wind energy projects, one micro hydropower project and over 1,000 bio-gas projects across the country.
The REB has installed solar power systems for over 800 consumers of two riverine islands of Narsingdi.
The IDCOL has already installed over 1,80,000 solar home systems through its partner organisations. It has also targeted to finance 9,00,000 solar home systems by 2012 with the assistances from World Bank, Global Environment Facility, Asian Development Bank, KFW and GTZ.
Grameen Shakti has installed over 77,000 solar power systems and 500 bio-gas plants for over 7,00,000 people of different coastal areas.
"The country's first-ever renewable energy policy is being prepared to woo investments for electricity generation from renewable energy sources apart from from conventional sources," Power Secretary Dr M Fouzul Kabir Khan told the FE.
He said the Power Cell has been given the task to prepare the policy, under which a guideline would be prepared to boost electricity generation from renewable sources.
The government took the initiative to formulate the renewable energy policy, as it has been in dire straits to meet the mounting electricity demand of the commercial as well as residential consumers across the country.
Currently, the country's total power generation is hovering around 3,500-MW against the estimated demand for over 5,000-MW every day.
"We have started preparing the draft of the policy after having consultations with all the stakeholders of private and public sectors," a senior Power Cell official said.
He said discussions in this regard already took place with the stakeholders including Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB), Rural Electrification Board (REB), Local Government Engineering Department (LGED), Infrastructure Development Company Ltd (IDCOL) and Grameen Shakti.
So far several public, private and non-government organisations have installed a good number of units using renewable energy sources like solar power, wind and bio-gas across the country with financial assistance from the donor agencies to ease the electricity crisis.
The proposed renewable energy policy will contribute towards a smooth growth and expansion of these renewable energy projects across the country, a senior official said.
The main objectives of the proposed policy are to explore opportunities for community-based renewable energy options for different applications, and their multipurpose use in the country's off-grid areas.
Currently LGED has a number of solar power systems, with which it arranges production of solar power for the households and commercial shops of over 150 families including those of the tribal ones and fishermen.
The LGED also installed some ten wind energy projects, one micro hydropower project and over 1,000 bio-gas projects across the country.
The REB has installed solar power systems for over 800 consumers of two riverine islands of Narsingdi.
The IDCOL has already installed over 1,80,000 solar home systems through its partner organisations. It has also targeted to finance 9,00,000 solar home systems by 2012 with the assistances from World Bank, Global Environment Facility, Asian Development Bank, KFW and GTZ.
Grameen Shakti has installed over 77,000 solar power systems and 500 bio-gas plants for over 7,00,000 people of different coastal areas.