Renewable energy deserves a high priority
Wednesday, 3 December 2008
GOVERNMENT appears to be taking the steps to frame a renewable energy policy for the country. But this policy-making needs to be expedited in view of the energy crisis that the country is going through at the moment.
The crisis is such that any additional supply of energy from any source would be most welcome and relieving for the economy. A good number of seminars have been held in Dhaka in recent years on the prospects of renewable energies in Bangladesh. Participants in those seminars have been highlighting the potential of Bangladesh to produce substantial additional megawatt (MW) of electricity on a sustainable basis from solar source and other renewable and the amount thereof is estimated to be well above the current total effective demand for electricity in the country.
As far as solar energy is concerned, the process of getting electricity from this source needs to be facilitated by government's fiscal policies that would provide effective duty-exemptions to imported equipment for this sector. Also entrepreneurs in this sector should be rewarded with measures like tax holiday for a long period.
Another recent finding is that rice husks produced as a by-product after separating the grain from the chaff, can be utilised by small-scale plants to generate about 400 mw of electricity on daily basis throughout the country. This amount would meet the total demand for power of rice mills and leave a surplus for any user. Then, there are much potentials to produce electricity from winds by operating windmills, from operating small turbines in rivers when their flows are strong and from waves of the ocean in the coastal areas.
Even our neighbouring countries, specially India, have been harnessing such non-conventional power for some years . Such non conventional powers supply a significant amount also to the national grid of that country. The vast rural areas of India have become considerably self-sufficient in power from developing and utilising such non conventional sources of off-grid electricity. The same model of viable electrification beckons to Bangladesh for the taking. The slogan in this country of reaching power to all on an enduring basis can be only realistically met from developing such renewable off-grid grid sources of electricity in the rural areas where the greatest number in the Bangladesh population live.
Bangladesh presently spends a great deal of resources on imported petroleum based fuels. But these imports can be substantially decreased from domestically produced alternatives. For example, there is a scope for producing ethanol from the molasses produced in no small quantities in Bangladesh. Ethanol can be also produced from other sources such as agricultural wastes and from municipal garbage. Ethanol is an ideal fuel. It burns cleanly, producing virtually none of the pollutants associated with conventional gasoline or diesel oil. And the technology for producing it is relatively simple and, thus, affordable for a country like Bangladesh. In the USA and Brazil, vehicles operate on mixtures that contain up to 20 per cent ethanol.
There is also the great potential of producing diesel for use in automotive vehicles in Bangladesh from jatrofa plants. The seeds of this plant are crushed to make a liquid similar to diesel called bio-diesel. Bio-diesel from jatrofa plants is significantly meeting requirements of fuels for transporters in neighbouring India. Jatrofa plants can grow easily without a care anywhere.
A plan to introduce jatrofa cultivation was reported sometime ago. But no further follow-up in the matter was heard since then.
Amirul Islam
Gulshan, Dhaka
The crisis is such that any additional supply of energy from any source would be most welcome and relieving for the economy. A good number of seminars have been held in Dhaka in recent years on the prospects of renewable energies in Bangladesh. Participants in those seminars have been highlighting the potential of Bangladesh to produce substantial additional megawatt (MW) of electricity on a sustainable basis from solar source and other renewable and the amount thereof is estimated to be well above the current total effective demand for electricity in the country.
As far as solar energy is concerned, the process of getting electricity from this source needs to be facilitated by government's fiscal policies that would provide effective duty-exemptions to imported equipment for this sector. Also entrepreneurs in this sector should be rewarded with measures like tax holiday for a long period.
Another recent finding is that rice husks produced as a by-product after separating the grain from the chaff, can be utilised by small-scale plants to generate about 400 mw of electricity on daily basis throughout the country. This amount would meet the total demand for power of rice mills and leave a surplus for any user. Then, there are much potentials to produce electricity from winds by operating windmills, from operating small turbines in rivers when their flows are strong and from waves of the ocean in the coastal areas.
Even our neighbouring countries, specially India, have been harnessing such non-conventional power for some years . Such non conventional powers supply a significant amount also to the national grid of that country. The vast rural areas of India have become considerably self-sufficient in power from developing and utilising such non conventional sources of off-grid electricity. The same model of viable electrification beckons to Bangladesh for the taking. The slogan in this country of reaching power to all on an enduring basis can be only realistically met from developing such renewable off-grid grid sources of electricity in the rural areas where the greatest number in the Bangladesh population live.
Bangladesh presently spends a great deal of resources on imported petroleum based fuels. But these imports can be substantially decreased from domestically produced alternatives. For example, there is a scope for producing ethanol from the molasses produced in no small quantities in Bangladesh. Ethanol can be also produced from other sources such as agricultural wastes and from municipal garbage. Ethanol is an ideal fuel. It burns cleanly, producing virtually none of the pollutants associated with conventional gasoline or diesel oil. And the technology for producing it is relatively simple and, thus, affordable for a country like Bangladesh. In the USA and Brazil, vehicles operate on mixtures that contain up to 20 per cent ethanol.
There is also the great potential of producing diesel for use in automotive vehicles in Bangladesh from jatrofa plants. The seeds of this plant are crushed to make a liquid similar to diesel called bio-diesel. Bio-diesel from jatrofa plants is significantly meeting requirements of fuels for transporters in neighbouring India. Jatrofa plants can grow easily without a care anywhere.
A plan to introduce jatrofa cultivation was reported sometime ago. But no further follow-up in the matter was heard since then.
Amirul Islam
Gulshan, Dhaka