5,000MW solar power achievable from industrial rooftops

[DalalErMaNodi]

The country currently generates 649.72MW of electricity from renewable resources, which is 2.93% of total capacity

The country has more than 7,000 RMG factories with vast rooftops well-suited for the installation of solar photovoltaic (PV) systems.


Around 5,000 megawatts (MW) of electricity can be generated by installing solar panels on the rooftops of ready-made garments (RMG), textiles and other industries in the country.

Infrastructure Development Company Limited (Idcol) – a government-owned non-bank financial institution specialised in financing in renewables – disclosed the prospective data at a webinar held on Saturday.

Presenting the data, Md Enamul Karim Pavel, head of Renewable Energy at Idcol, said the country has more than 7,000 RMG factories with vast rooftops well-suited for the installation of solar photovoltaic (PV) systems.

Meanwhile, textiles factories have around 420 lakh square feet of rooftop space that have the potential to generate 400MW of electricity, he pointed out.


"Besides these, rooftops of other industries – including poultry, pharmaceuticals, paper, packaging, and cold storage facilities – could also be used to generate 5,000MW of electricity," he added.


"The estimation was made based on the space used for the current rooftop solar projects and the available space in different industries," Md Enamul Karim Pavel told The Business Standard over the phone.

By implementing the rooftop projects, three types of benefits could be achieved – a reduction in electricity bills, the enhancement of green credentials and utilisation of unused space as well as reduced use of grid electricity, he added.

Currently, Bangladesh generates only 649.72MW of electricity from renewable resources, which is 2.93% of the country's total capacity. But, a major portion of this renewable energy comes from solar home systems (SHSs).

Dr Tawfiq-E- Chowdhury, energy adviser to the prime minister, attended the webinar titled "Rooftop Solar Future in Bangladesh," as the chief guest. Mollah Amzad Hossain, editor of Energy & Power magazine, moderated the event.

Dr Tawfiq-E-Chowdhury urged the agencies concerned to start working on the solar storage facilities.

"Energy that does not work at night is not complete electricity. Due to this limitation, solar is not the main energy anywhere in the world. Therefore, we need to start work on solar storage to use it 24/7," he said.

Talking about electric vehicles, Dr Tawfiq-E-Chowdhury suggested using petrol pump stations' areas to set up solar charging stations for electric vehicles.

Mohammad Alauddin, chairman of the Sustainable and Renewable Energy Development Authority' (Sreda) – a government wing responsible for promoting renewable energy – said the country should not focus only on solar for achieving the renewable energy generation targets.

"Beside solar energy, we need to explore other sources of renewable energy like wind and hydropower," said the Sreda chairman.

Participating in the panel discussion, Tanjil Chowdhury, managing director of East Coast Group, stressed low-cost green financing for the development of rooftop solar power.

He also recommended that the government ensure a regulatory framework so that low-quality solar panels are not dumped in Bangladesh.

Among others, Munawar Misbah Moin, group director of Rahimafrooz Bangladesh Ltd, and Professor Dr Saiful Huque, director of the Institution of Energy of Dhaka University, spoke at the programme




Source

 

[idune]

Fund crisis thwarts growth of solar irrigation pumps
SYFUL ISLAM | Published: October 27, 2020 10:00:08

File photo. (Collected)

Installation of solar irrigation pumps is facing severe obstruction due to non-availability of grant fund, officials have sad.
The Infrastructure Development Company Limited (IDCOL) did not approve any new applications for setting up of the pumps since early this year due to non-availability of grant fund, they added.
The state-owned company provides 50 per cent of the total cost as grants, 35 per cent as loans and the rest 15 per cent comes as the equity.
Until October last year, the IDCOL approved 1,630 pumps, of which 1,323 are in operation with a cumulative generating capacity of about 32 megawatts of power (MWp). The IDCOL has set a target of installing 50,000 solar irrigation pumps by 2025.

The IDCOL gets fund from organisations like German development bank KfW, USAID, UK Aid, and some global trust funds to utilise as grant for setting up of solar irrigation pumps.
However, various other organisations like Bangladesh Rural Electrification Board (BREB) are also funding such projects.
The BREB got funding from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and recently awarded contracts to a Bangladesh-German joint venture to install 705 solar-powered irrigation pumps in Bogra district.
Until now, some 1,950 solar pumps were installed with a total power generation capacity of around 47 MW.
There are some 1.34 million diesel-run irrigation pumps which consume nearly US$1.0 billion worth of fuel oil annually. Also, some 365,000 electricity-run pumps are there which require nearly 2,000 MW of power during summer.
The government has a plan to replace these irrigation pumps with solar-powered ones to reduce dependence on costly imported fuel oil.
IDCOL's head of renewable energy Enamul Karim Pavel told the FE that talks are underway with possible donors and the funds are expected to be available by March next.
"We are expecting big funding to finance several thousands of pumps," he said.
He said IDCOL is also discussing with the government to get financial support for the irrigation programme.
"Our plan is to reach 10,000 large-scale solar irrigation pumps by 2027 from current 1,500 which will replace about 100,000 diesel-run pumps," added Mr Pavel.
Chairman of Sustainable and Renewable Energy Development Authority (SREDA) Mohammad Alauddin told the FE that installation of solar-run pumps is still dependent on the donors' fund and its non-availability at this moment has slowed down the progress.
The government is working on developing a good business model for solar-run irrigation pumps to make it more feasible, he added.
President of the Bangladesh Solar and Renewable Energy Association Dipal C Baura told the FE that only the easy availability of low-cost loans can help expedite the conversion of the irrigation pumps.
Presently, he said, the IDCOL alone has a soft loan programme for solar irrigation pumps which is not enough for making quick progress in this regard. "Engaging more such organisations in the process may help," he said.
He said the IDCOL prefers to finance large-sized pumps which the small entrepreneurs cannot afford.
"Soft loans should be provided for setting up of small-sized pumps," he said, adding the banks having green financing window can come forward with soft loans to expedite the conversion of irrigation pumps.

Fund crisis thwarts growth of solar irrigation pumps

Installation of solar irrigation pumps is facing severe obstruction due to non-availability of grant fund, officials have sad. The Infrastructure Development Company Limited (IDCOL) did not approve any new applications for setting up of the pumps since early this year due to non-availability of gr

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

 

[Dark1]

Solar power is viable only where transmission lines are too expensive to lay. Like in remote areas .Dont go by popular media reports, financially solar investment cannot match a normal grid connection.
Go solar for primarily environment reasons.

 

[SBUS-CXK]

I guess. 90% of the solar panels in Bangladesh come from Chinese companies. Maybe Trina Solar, Jinko, JA etc.

 

[Bilal9]