The prospects of renewable energy
Saturday, 29 September 2007
Mahmudul Hasan
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 bring remote areas of the country under electrification. Indeed, such renewable 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 of developing at a faster pace non conventional sources of power, locally, to ease pressure from the grid.
Thus, it is heartening to see donor organizations 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 biomass or droppings of birds and animals, 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 4,000 mw on average, recently, with the demand being some 5,000 mw. This projection was made in a seminar which was held in Dhaka some months ago. It was attended by experts in the field from different countries. Thus, with a policy pursued to produce electricity from the renewables, there is the possibility of producing electricity in surplus of the total current demand in the short run as well as in the longer 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 true value of the seminar can be realized only if its recommendations are adopted and worked upon at an early date to formulate policies and then systematic attempts are made to implement the same.
The production possibilities of electricity stated in the seminar are not mere propositions. The same have been made on the basis of the experience of our neighbouring country--India-- where the technologies of the renewables have been developed with great effect and are producing and supplying substantial electricity to the national grid of that country. 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.
It is ironical that Bangladesh has been most prospective so far 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 at least 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 popularized 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.
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 bring remote areas of the country under electrification. Indeed, such renewable 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 of developing at a faster pace non conventional sources of power, locally, to ease pressure from the grid.
Thus, it is heartening to see donor organizations 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 biomass or droppings of birds and animals, 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 4,000 mw on average, recently, with the demand being some 5,000 mw. This projection was made in a seminar which was held in Dhaka some months ago. It was attended by experts in the field from different countries. Thus, with a policy pursued to produce electricity from the renewables, there is the possibility of producing electricity in surplus of the total current demand in the short run as well as in the longer 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 true value of the seminar can be realized only if its recommendations are adopted and worked upon at an early date to formulate policies and then systematic attempts are made to implement the same.
The production possibilities of electricity stated in the seminar are not mere propositions. The same have been made on the basis of the experience of our neighbouring country--India-- where the technologies of the renewables have been developed with great effect and are producing and supplying substantial electricity to the national grid of that country. 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.
It is ironical that Bangladesh has been most prospective so far 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 at least 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 popularized 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.