High time to consider the non conventional power sources
Enayet Rasul | Wednesday, 11 June 2008
A report in this paper sometime ago stated that the World Bank is likely to provide US$ 90 million to Bangladesh as funds for a project designed to produce electricity non conventionally for supplying to remote areas of the country . Indeed, such non conventional sources of power are the only hope for many rural and remote areas of the country where reaching power from the national grid is contraindicated in terms of accessibility and costs. Besides, the current insufficiency of power in the national grid also dictates the need to develop at a faster pace non conventional sources of power--locally-- to ease pressure on the grid. Thus, it is heartening to see donor organisations taking greater interest in helping Bangladesh to develop renewable sources of energy. It should be a consistent policy on their part in the coming days to help out Bangladesh more and more with the development of such energy sources, specially in view of the severe crisis noted in generating electricity conventionally.
There are great potentials for Bangladesh to produce electricity from renewable sources . Electricity generation by using the sun's rays, from the water by operating small hydro electricity projects, from the winds by running turbines or windmills and even from the waves of the ocean, are all possible in the context of Bangladesh. The electricity produced from these non conventional sources can be as much as 11,000 mw when the country has been producing some 3,500 mw on average, recently, with the demand being some 5,000 mw. This projection was made in a seminar which was held in Dhaka last year. It was attended by experts in the field from different countries. Thus, with a policy pursued to produce power from the non conventional sources, there is the possibility of producing power in surplus of the total current demand in the short run as well as in the long run.
The projections made in the seminar are all in the realm of probabilities. The same will require some time in planning, preparing and investing in all types of projects to get the desired amount of electricity produced when it does not offer an immediate solution to the country's electricity-related woes. This contention is understandable. But one has to make a start at some point, even after suffering from lack of actions or proper planning in the past to be able to secure the future.
The production possibilities of electricity stated in the seminar are not mere propositions. The developers of these non conventional technologies were present in the seminar ready to invest in similar projects in Bangladesh either exclusively or in joint partnership with the private and public sectors.
Bangladesh is very prospective for the development of solar electricity. This country gets continuous good sunshine throughout the year. The experts at the seminar said that Bangladesh can produce 10,000 mw of electricity from the solar source alone. There is also the opportunity to save about 1000 mw of electricity from the use of energy saving appliances. This is also information worth acting upon right away. If this amount can be saved from using devices that would help the more efficient use of electricity by reducing its consumption, then the same must be popularised extensively throughout the country without delay. The amount of electricity to be saved, thus, is nearly equivalent to the total amount of current shortfall in the production of electricity compared to the demand.
It was reported in this paper on Saturday that the power ministry is now engaged with the task of formulating the country's first ever renewable energy policy. This news is fine. The only concern or the real concern is how long it would take to form the policy and start implementing it. For it has been the experience in this country always that policies take inordinately long periods to be formed in the first place and then get bogged down in all sorts of controversies in some cases. But can the country afford such a lackadaisical process in this area of non conventional power production when power related sufferings have reached an all time high peak ? The answer is obvious. Thus, this particular policy on renewable energy source would need to be formed with a sense of great urgency and its implementation should also start at the soonest. Only then, this exercise will be considered as useful and appropriate if notable non conventional power generation starts at an early date to cater to various users of power.
The decision to compel high rise building owners to set up solar panels has been timely. There are other similar steps that can be taken perhaps to persuade people to go for solar power specially in the urban areas. Solar power already is somewhat familiar in different rural areas of the country but is almost completely unused in the urban areas. But the urban areas are the heaviest users of power and introduction of solar power in the urban areas can be particularly helpful for these categories of power users from finding an alternative to conventional electricity which is poorly supplied to them. Like the setting up of solar panels on high rise buildings other measures can be thought of, to draw the attention of the people in urban areas towards solar power. These things can be done to gain from the same even before the adoption of a full-fledged policy on renewable energy sources. There is no need to waste time or wait fruitlessly on the plea of having a policy first.
What is so important is to appeal to the imagination of residents of urban areas about how they can help themselves immediately by installing solar panels in their own premises. Once the idea catches on, the rush to set up solar panels in the urban areas will likely acquire a momentum. Government will have to only facilitate this trend by easing the availability of such panels and other paraphernalia by helping to keep their costs down through lenient taxation.
There are great potentials for Bangladesh to produce electricity from renewable sources . Electricity generation by using the sun's rays, from the water by operating small hydro electricity projects, from the winds by running turbines or windmills and even from the waves of the ocean, are all possible in the context of Bangladesh. The electricity produced from these non conventional sources can be as much as 11,000 mw when the country has been producing some 3,500 mw on average, recently, with the demand being some 5,000 mw. This projection was made in a seminar which was held in Dhaka last year. It was attended by experts in the field from different countries. Thus, with a policy pursued to produce power from the non conventional sources, there is the possibility of producing power in surplus of the total current demand in the short run as well as in the long run.
The projections made in the seminar are all in the realm of probabilities. The same will require some time in planning, preparing and investing in all types of projects to get the desired amount of electricity produced when it does not offer an immediate solution to the country's electricity-related woes. This contention is understandable. But one has to make a start at some point, even after suffering from lack of actions or proper planning in the past to be able to secure the future.
The production possibilities of electricity stated in the seminar are not mere propositions. The developers of these non conventional technologies were present in the seminar ready to invest in similar projects in Bangladesh either exclusively or in joint partnership with the private and public sectors.
Bangladesh is very prospective for the development of solar electricity. This country gets continuous good sunshine throughout the year. The experts at the seminar said that Bangladesh can produce 10,000 mw of electricity from the solar source alone. There is also the opportunity to save about 1000 mw of electricity from the use of energy saving appliances. This is also information worth acting upon right away. If this amount can be saved from using devices that would help the more efficient use of electricity by reducing its consumption, then the same must be popularised extensively throughout the country without delay. The amount of electricity to be saved, thus, is nearly equivalent to the total amount of current shortfall in the production of electricity compared to the demand.
It was reported in this paper on Saturday that the power ministry is now engaged with the task of formulating the country's first ever renewable energy policy. This news is fine. The only concern or the real concern is how long it would take to form the policy and start implementing it. For it has been the experience in this country always that policies take inordinately long periods to be formed in the first place and then get bogged down in all sorts of controversies in some cases. But can the country afford such a lackadaisical process in this area of non conventional power production when power related sufferings have reached an all time high peak ? The answer is obvious. Thus, this particular policy on renewable energy source would need to be formed with a sense of great urgency and its implementation should also start at the soonest. Only then, this exercise will be considered as useful and appropriate if notable non conventional power generation starts at an early date to cater to various users of power.
The decision to compel high rise building owners to set up solar panels has been timely. There are other similar steps that can be taken perhaps to persuade people to go for solar power specially in the urban areas. Solar power already is somewhat familiar in different rural areas of the country but is almost completely unused in the urban areas. But the urban areas are the heaviest users of power and introduction of solar power in the urban areas can be particularly helpful for these categories of power users from finding an alternative to conventional electricity which is poorly supplied to them. Like the setting up of solar panels on high rise buildings other measures can be thought of, to draw the attention of the people in urban areas towards solar power. These things can be done to gain from the same even before the adoption of a full-fledged policy on renewable energy sources. There is no need to waste time or wait fruitlessly on the plea of having a policy first.
What is so important is to appeal to the imagination of residents of urban areas about how they can help themselves immediately by installing solar panels in their own premises. Once the idea catches on, the rush to set up solar panels in the urban areas will likely acquire a momentum. Government will have to only facilitate this trend by easing the availability of such panels and other paraphernalia by helping to keep their costs down through lenient taxation.