Regen Power Limited (RPL), an Indian firm, has submitted its partial wind mapping report to the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources citing that it has found five metres per second wind speed in Magnama of Cox's Bazar and in Muhuri of Feni.
The firm was assigned two years back to study wind speed at different places across the country aiming to generate 15 megawatt (mw) power from wind turbine.
Director of the Renewable Energy Department (RED) under the state-run Power Development Board (PDB), Md Shafique Uddin, said the firm was assigned for mapping the wind speed and it has sought time until March next year for submission of the full report.
As the RPL does not have any local office this correspondent could not contact them but the PDB sources said the firm in its study report said they have found a moderate wind speed and it is possible to generate 15-20 mw wind turbine power by them at some sites.
As per the government's renewable energy policy the firm is conducting study mainly in the coastal zones and offshore and inland areas of the country.
He said the most probable places for wind availability are in Feni, Kutubdia, Moheshkhali, Cox's Bazar, Anowara and Chilmari.
The PDB officials said after the submission of their progress report the government will sit with them again to discuss the turbine erecting job and fix tariff.
According to a source at the RED, Bangladesh's average wind velocity is 4.5 metres per second and it varies at different sites and heights.
A source at the PDB said 50 to 200 mw of power could be generated from wind power in different offshore, coastal and inland sites.
Apart from four places in Cox's Bazar and Chittagong, the RPL has also identified another four sites -- Parky Beach, Kuakata, Chilmari and Khepupara.
Md Shafique Uddin said funds are available from the Climate Change Trust Fund (CCTF) as well as from the government itself to finance wind mills in different places.
He said the PDB is aware of global warming and it has already installed wind mills in Kutubdia and Feni under two projects aiming to generate 1.0 mw of power from each project.
But the projects failed as the Kutubdia 1.0 mw project (of 50 turbines having 20kw capacity each) was hit hard by cyclone Aila and the Feni project (of four turbines with 225kw capacity each) was closed due to inappropriate wind mapping, he said.
The RED director said, "Due to faulty erection of turbines, we have assigned the Indian firm to assess the real statistics of wind availability at different places."
He said as per the report, the project will succeed in generating wind power without incurring financial loss.
The PDB official said the government is going to restart the two projects and the tender has already been floated. After their revival, the two projects would generate two mw of power.
Apart from the PDB, the Local Government and Engineering Department (LGED), Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) have conducted wind mapping in different parts of the country.
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