State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid has said enhancing the share of renewable energy in Bangladesh's fuel-mix is being encouraged.
“We’ve been working adopting strategies on energy diversification, clean energy and climate change mitigation to promote renewable energy. By 2041, the government is moving ahead with the goal of producing 40 percent of electricity from clean energy,” he said while addressing "Energy Transition Ministerial Meeting" on the occasion of G-20 in Goa, India on Saturday.
He mentioned that some 1,194 MW of electricity is generated from renewable sources, but 825.23 MW of electricity is coming to the national grid.
Another 1262 MW power generation projects are underway through 30 projects from renewable energy and 8668 MW power generation projects are under process, he said adding, in total some 9930 MW power generation from renewable energy is now in the pipeline.
India's Minister of Power and New and Renewable Energy R. K Singh, Minister of Mines and Energy of Brazil Alexandre Alexandre Silveira de Oliveira, Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources of Indonesia Arifin Tasrif, President of COP 28 (designate) Dr. Sultan Al Jaber, Chief Minister of Goa Dr. Pramod Sawant and related ministers spoke at the Ministerial Meeting while Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the program through video messages.
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Giving a description on renewable energy initiatives Nasrul Hamid said 20 million people living in off-grid areas are being illuminated through 6 million solar home systems.
Providing grid quality electricity to off-grid areas through solar mini-grids while 7 solar parks have been installed.
“We have about 100,000 wind gas plants. A wind resource map has been prepared in Bangladesh in collaboration with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL),” he said.
He noted that about 245 MW wind power generation activities are ongoing through five projects.
He said the government has taken up process to import hydropower from Nepal and Bhutan.
“Renewable energy is also gaining importance in integrated energy and power master plans. This includes plans for renewable energy (solar, wind, and hydro etc.), nuclear, power import (hydro), hydrogen, ammonia, CCS (carbon dioxide) capture and combined cycle power plants.”
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The state minister also said that Bangladesh has lost around $10 billion worth of investment due to the cancellation of 10 coal-based power plants in the country.
“This bold move reflects our strong commitment to green and clean energy. As a densely populated nation, we face unique challenges in implementing renewable energy projects,” he said.
Nasrul Hamid said Bangladesh’s electricity consumption pattern is different from many developed countries and solar power is inappropriate as a base-load power.
He said that lack of land is a major hurdle for solar projects. Overcoming these challenges requires technology transfer and research, he added.
Renewable energy, especially, waste-to-energy and wind power require massive investment, he said adding that the government welcome investment in power and energy sector in Bangladesh.