In Bangladesh, solar power brings jobs, but land scarcity slows growth – EQ Mag Pro

DHAKA: Topu Roy’s family had no electricity until around 2005, when his parents installed a solar power system at their home in Dinajpur, northern Bangladesh, to run lights and fans .

Over the past two decades, some 6 million solar home systems have been installed across the country, bringing electricity to remote off-grid communities.

“This is a remarkable achievement,” said Shahriar Ahmed Chowdhury, director of the Center for Energy Research at the United International University of Bangladesh.

For the rapidly developing South Asian nation, solar power has brought benefits to citizens while creating jobs. But the sector’s growth has been held back by bottlenecks such as a lack of land on which to build large-scale factories.

The electricity grid finally reached the village of Roy in 2020 as part of a government program to electrify the whole country by 2021, allowing residents to use a range of electrical appliances for the first time.

“But with the recent electricity crisis in Bangladesh, we are back to square one, resorting to the solar home system because the grid power is pretty much out,” said the 25-year-old student.

Millions of Bangladeshis are doing the same to cope with severe blackouts, caused by a recent electricity crisis amid extreme heat and high fuel prices, with rural areas hardest hit.

Bakirul Islam, 21, a student from Mymensingh, north of Dhaka, said he now only gets two to three hours of electricity a day and also relies on a home solar system.

Rising fuel prices around the world have destabilized energy policy in Bangladesh, which imports about a quarter of its natural gas supply, prompting calls for a more diverse energy mix, including a greater emphasis on renewables , especially solar energy.

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The country has just over 900 megawatts (MW) of renewable energy capacity, out of a total electricity capacity of 25,700 MW, well below the target of reaching 10% production from renewable sources. clean energy by 2020.

Last year, the Department of Energy announced a more ambitious goal of providing 40% of the country’s renewable electricity by 2041, with solar power seen as having the highest potential.

business case

Solar energy development has lagged partly because it was expensive a decade ago, at more than $0.16 per kilowatt-hour, said Ijaz Hossain, a professor at the University of Engineering and Bangladesh Technology (BUET).

But the price has since fallen, making solar power cheaper than using imported fuels like coal, heavy fuel oil or diesel, said Chowdhury of the Center for Energy Research.

The recent rise in fossil fuel prices means industry can now save a lot of money by embracing solar power, said Ziaur Rahman Khan, another BUET professor.

With rooftop solar, 1 kilowatt-hour of electricity costs about 4 taka ($0.04) for a commercial or industrial user, compared to 8 to 11 taka per unit for grid electricity, said Md. Rashedul Alam, Deputy Director of Sustainable and Renewable Energy Development. Authority, a government agency of Bangladesh.

According to experts, estimates of Bangladesh’s solar power potential support a larger-scale push towards solar power.

A national solar energy roadmap, drafted in 2020 with the United Nations Development Programme, calculated that 6,000 MW could be generated from solar power by 2041 in a business as usual scenario. – and with aggressive policies, up to 30,000 MW.

The report offers key policy insights, such as the “very real opportunities” of rooftop solar installations, said Farseem Mannan Mohammedy, director of BUET’s Energy and Sustainable Development Institute.

Recent expansion of solar power has focused on both rooftop solar PV systems and large-scale ground-mounted power plants.

Rooftop solar power is attractive because it does not require land acquisition, said Munawar Moin, group director at Rahimafrooz Ltd, a pioneer solar panel manufacturer in Bangladesh.

An earlier study estimated that 5,000 MW could be generated from solar power plants on industrial rooftops.

Chowdhury noted that there are now more than 30 large-scale rooftop solar PV power plants, mostly plant-mounted.

Besides garment and textile manufacturing, other sectors like steel and electronics are also venturing into rooftop solar.

Rooftop solar PV plants are a big source of job creation, Mohammedy said, noting that Bangladesh has the fifth highest number of jobs in solar PV, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). ).

According to a 2020 IRENA report, there were 137,000 jobs in Bangladesh’s solar sector, mostly concentrated in solar home systems, including 10,000 jobs in solar module assembly.

But securing finance to expand the business has been a major challenge, experts said, with bank officials often lacking the knowledge needed to assess solar projects.

To create manufacturing jobs in the supply chain, the government should set quotas so that a certain share of solar panels is purchased locally, Moin added.

In search of land

Nestled between the scenic Brahmaputra River and the agricultural fields of Mymensingh district, stands a 50 MW solar park set up by HDFC Sinpower Limited, a joint venture between Bangladeshi, Malaysian and Singaporean investors.

The plant, which has been feeding into the grid since last November, is one of eight large-scale solar power plants in operation in Bangladesh, which have a combined capacity of around 230 MW.

Ibrahim Johny, 25, who works as a security guard at the Mymensingh solar park was unemployed before getting the job, he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation at the entrance.

Plant manager Ahsanul Muznebin said 42 local people were employed there as module cleaners, while 14 others worked as security guards and 12 as operations and maintenance engineers.

But setting up a new solar park is difficult because Bangladesh has little land available, Prof BUET Khan said.

A 2001 National Land Use Policy prohibits the conversion of fertile agricultural land for other purposes.

Mymensingh solar park manager Muznebin told the Thomson Reuters Foundation that it took almost two years to acquire the 174 acres needed for the plant because the farmland could not be used.

Chowdhury, author of the solar roadmap project, said enough land could be found for solar parks by reclaiming barren riparian areas and estuaries, while agricultural land could also be used for both agriculture. and electricity generation.

He urged the government to take responsibility for land organization for large-scale solar parks and development of transmission infrastructure for solar power centers.

It should also facilitate the rigorous qualification criteria and approval process for ground-mounted solar farms, he added.

Alam from the Sustainable Energy Authority said falling investment costs gave solar energy a bright future in Bangladesh and the government would support its development, including setting a new target in a policy. revised renewable energy plan scheduled for 2023.

Source: PTI