Md. Zillur Rahaman: The whole world is now very concerned about climate change and the environment. On the one hand, free carbon emissions continue in the developed world, and on the other, the suffering and health risks of poor nations have increased. For these reasons, RE is now considered a timely, environmentally friendly energy and carbon emission-free component. The UN and global environmental groups have been encouraging and emphasizing the use of RE to tackle climate change and reach a sustainable energy system.
In fact, Renewable Energy (RE) is a source of energy that can be reused in a short period of time and the source of energy is not depleted. Various natural sources such as sunlight and heat, wind flow, water flow, bioenergy, geothermal, ocean waves, ocean heat, tides, urban waste, hydrogen fuel cells, etc. are considered as RE sources. RE is now widely accepted in the world as opposed to the fossil fuels that have been used for so long to meet the electricity and energy needs of civilization. Most countries have set targets for using RE to meet their electricity and energy needs.
Bangladesh, one of the victims of climate change, is not lagging behind in terms of RE. Bangladesh is being assisted in this regard by several development partner countries and organizations including Germany. The government has also taken several steps to produce and use environmentally friendly fuels. Especially people across the country with biogas and solar energy. It is inspiring to save energy as well as use. Even energy saving lamps have been distributed among the people.
Private enterprises played a pivotal role in setting up the first solar home system in Sylhet, Bangladesh in the mid-eighties. Subsequently, the Solar Home System (SHS) program was extensively expanded by Infrastructure Development Company Ltd (IDCL) which is currently the largest RE program in Bangladesh since the launch of SHS in 1996. About 4.50 million solar home systems have been installed so far and the number is increasing due to the integrated program adopted by the government through financial institution IDCL.
| ব্যাংক, ব্যাংকার, ব্যাংকিং, অর্থনীতি ও ফাইন্যান্স বিষয়ক গুরুত্বপূর্ণ খবর, প্রতিবেদন, বিশেষ কলাম, বিনিয়োগ/ লোন, ডেবিট কার্ড, ক্রেডিট কার্ড, ফিনটেক, ব্যাংকের নিয়োগ বিজ্ঞপ্তি ও বাংলাদেশ ব্যাংকের সার্কুলারগুলোর আপডেট পেতে আমাদের অফিসিয়াল ফেসবুক পেজ 'ব্যাংকিং নিউজ', ফেসবুক গ্রুপ 'ব্যাংকিং ইনফরমেশন', 'লিংকডইন', 'টেলিগ্রাম চ্যানেল', 'ইন্সটাগ্রাম', 'টুইটার', 'ইউটিউব', 'হোয়াটসঅ্যাপ চ্যানেল' এবং 'গুগল নিউজ'-এ যুক্ত হয়ে সাথে থাকুন। |
The RE Policy came into force on 18 December, 2008 to ensure the use and development of RE in Bangladesh. The Government of Bangladesh has enacted the Sustainable and RE Development Authority – SREDA Act-2012 to identify solar energy, wind energy, hydropower, biomass, biofuel, geothermal, river currents, ocean waves, etc. as RE sources. In 2016, the Power System Masterplan (PSMP) set a target of 10 percent (2470 MW) of total power generation capacity by 2021 for RE shares, but due to some limitations, the target was not achieved. To achieve this goal, the maximum use of solar energy was considered as the main. According to the latest data, the country now has the capacity to generate 20,595 MW of electricity from conventional sources. On the other hand, the amount of electricity generated from renewable sources is only 700.61 MW, which is only three percent of the total production capacity which is less than the desired target level.
According to the government, after the formation of PSMP in 2016, the government had planned to generate a total of 2110.65 MW of electricity for the implementation of the solar park project by connecting a total of 36 grids in the public and private sectors in the last 5-6 years. Although contracts have been signed for 26 projects so far, only five projects have been implemented so far. Among the five implemented projects with a capacity of about 88.5 MW are 50 MW Gauripur, Mymensingh, 7.5 MW Kaptai, 8 MW Panchagarh, 20 MW Teknaf and 3 MW Sarishabari Solar Park.
The hope is that the world’s largest emitters of carbon dioxide are using the most RE, because of the pressure from the people of their own country and international environmentalists. The USA, China, Germany, Russia, India are using the most RE in the world. Many states in the USA have separate legal obligations and feed-in tariffs for the use of RE and China has the largest hydropower plant in the world. China has also set up the largest wind and solar power plants. More than 100 coal-fired power plants have been shut down in China. India currently has the world’s largest solar power plant with a generating capacity of 648 MW. Most solar panels have been installed in Germany. The Nordic countries are helping to expand it by enacting RE-friendly legislation. At the same time, most of the developed and developing countries around the world have adopted policies and plans to increase RE.
Bangladesh lags far behind South Asian neighbors Pakistan and India in the use of RE in power generation. Data analysis shows that Bangladesh generates three percent of its electricity from RE, compared to 24.16 percent of its total power generation capacity in India, which is about 90,399 MW. The total power generation capacity of the country is 3,74,199 MW (excluding hydropower). On the other hand, Pakistan’s total power generation capacity is 37,402 MW (excluding solar and wind) as against five percent (1,870 MW) from renewable sources.
According to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, in 2010, about 90 percent of the people in the cities had access to electricity and 42 percent in the villages. Seven years later, in 2017, about 76% of the people got electricity. Although the power infrastructure is not flawless and the result is still load shedding. In this case, setting up more thermal power plants may be a good solution. However, in the future, RE will be the main source and driving force of electricity.
Bangladesh is very suitable for solar power because the coastal areas of the country get about 11 hours of clear sunlight every day. The rate of insulation in these areas is 3.8 kw/m2/day and 6.4 kw/m2/day. The Bangladesh government has already introduced solar home systems, or SHS for short, for power supply that are not connected to the power grid. This program has helped more than 4 million families. About 50,000 SHSs are being set up every month since 2009. The World Bank has called it the fastest growing solar home system activity in the world. Clearly, in the electrification roadmap, coal-fired power plants have become undeveloped in Bangladesh. So RE will be the main driving force and base of the future.
However, there are some weaknesses in this case. Bangladesh is known for its monsoon winds and solar energy is highly dependent on the weather and the weather in Bangladesh is cloudy at certain times of the year. RE and solar plants are also very expensive. Yet most of the vulnerabilities can be solved through large solar power projects.
RE is now widely accepted in the world and most countries have set targets for RE use to meet their electricity and energy needs. Solar energy is currently the most promising of the various RE sources and has limited use of biogas and biomass. Most of the world’s fossil fuels are used to generate electricity, drive motor vehicles, and heat homes. To this end, various research processes are underway internationally to introduce sustainable power systems using RE, sustainable transportation systems and energy efficient household products rich in green technology.
Energy experts say the use of RE in Bangladesh has not reached the desired level due to lack of commitment at the policy-making level, land crisis, lack of coordination among state institutions and a strict bureaucratic mindset for conventional energy. However, RE in Bangladesh has now reached the take-off stage. At the take-off stage, all sectors have to face huge challenges. If these challenges can be tackled, RE will be the driving force of the future in Bangladesh as well as in other countries of the world.
The writer is a First Assistant Vice President (FAVP) of Islami Bank Bangladesh Ltd (IBBL).
