Dhaka – Speakers at a discussion at Metropolitan Chamber on Wednesday urged the government to ensure specific policy, budgetary allocation and project approach to achieve the goal of generating 10 percent of electricity from the renewable energy by 2020.They identified this as a real challenge for the policymakers, where public and private sectors have to move hand in hand to achieve the target.
They made the call at the focused group discretion meeting jointly organised by Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) and Solar Module Manufacturers Association of Bangladesh (SMMAB).
With SMMAB preside Munawar Misbah Moin in the chair, the function was addressed, among others, by MCCI vice president Golam Moinuddin, Sustainable and Renewable Energy Development Authority (Sreda) director general Md Helal Uddin, Power Cell director general Mohammad Hossain, Power Division join Secretary Mohammad Aluddin, and Bangladesh Solar and Renewable Energy Association president Dipal Barua.
The speakers said although the installed electricity generation capacity of the country has been increased to nnearly 16,000 MW, there is still scarcity of electricity.
They said combustion of fossil fuels releases greenhouse gases into the atmosphere which causes global warming.Bangladesh is badly affected by greenhouse effect and global warming, they observed. They said this problem can be mitigated by incorporating renewable energy sources to the country’s electricity generation.
Renewable energy resources are considered as clean and can serve the electricity demand in the remote areas where grid connection is not possible, said the Sreda director general.
Dipal Barua said potential of solar energy and biomass is enormous in Bangladesh and people have already started to harness energy from these sources.
He said the government has already set out a target of generating 10 percent of its total energy from the renewable sources by 2020. Unfortunately, an effective way forward and methodical planning on timeline basis is yet to be chalked out to attain this goal, he noted.
Mohammad Alauddin said the government has finalised the net metering system which will create huge opportunity for private sector to sell their unconfirmed solar electricity to the grid. He said the government has selected four dedicated sites for grid connected solar park projects. UNB
