Construction of the country's first agrivoltaic solar power plant is set to begin soon, with the signing of a power purchase agreement with Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) last Wednesday.
Soudia Agro Solar PV Power Plant Ltd managing director Mumtahina Mostafa and BPDB secretary Mohammad Selim Reza inked the deal on behalf of their respective organisations.
Under the agreement, the BPDB will buy electricity at $0.1074/kWh from the 3.77-megawatt (MW) facility for a period of 20 years.
Soudia Agro Solar, a joint venture of Solarland China and local company Mostafa Motors, will install it on 12.5 acres of land at Bera upazila in Pabna district.
According to developers, an estimated $7.0 million will be spent on the building of the plant which is expected to come on line by next October.
Project director Abdul Gaffar says the plant will be built on a farmland where some special technologies be introduced for different types of agriculture under specially-designed solar-mounted.
There will be five different types of structure for different types of work in the project area, he adds.
A major portion of the land under the solar panels will be used for farming local chicken, duck, goat, sheep, bee and some special type of domestic animals.
"Some other parts under the solar panels will be used for vertical gardening, different types of berries, and integrating greenhouse agriculture," cites Mr Gaffar.
The company is evaluating bidders' proposals to appoint an engineering procurement and construction (EPC) contractor for the project.
A good number of Chinese, Indian, Sri Lankan and local EPC contractors participated in the bid.
Some 10,000 modules will be installed in the power plant where string inverter manufacturer Huawei will supply inverters and smart transformer station.
Bangladesh now generates 777.31MW electricity from renewable sources.
The government aims to generate 40 per cent of total electricity from renewable sources by 2041.
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