3 more solar power plants await government nod
According to official sources, the solar power plants are 100 MW power plant at Banshkhali in Chattogram, 300 MW at Islampur in Jamalpur and 100 MW at Sadar Upazila in Rajbari district.
Three more private-sector solar power plants — a 100 MW power plant at Banshkhali in Chattogram, 300 MW at Islampur in Jamalpur and 100 MW at Sadar upazila in Rajbari — are in the process of getting approval from the government, according to official sources.
A consortium of Huiheng Wind Power Limited of Hong Kong and Jupiter Energy Ltd of Bangladesh will develop the 100 MW Banshkhali plant, the SAL-GTECH consortium will set up the 300 MW Islampur plant while a consortium of Sungrow Renewable Energy Investment Pte Ltd and Theia Power (Singapore) Ltd will set up the 100 MW Rajbari power plant.
Official sources said the Power Division has already moved three separate proposals to the Cabinet Division to place the offer of the three consortiums to the meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Government Purchase (CCGP) for final approval.
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"If the CCGP approves the proposals, the Power Division will ask the Bangladesh Power Development Board to sign the power purchase agreements with them," a top official of the Power Division told UNB.
He, however, did not disclose the details about tariff rates of the solar power from these plants but said the Power Development Board will purchase electricity from the plants under long-term contracts with a tariff rate of about $0.10.
In recent months, the government has been emphasising increasing the share of renewable energy, especially solar power, as part of its plan to raise its share to 40% by 2041 from the existing below 3%.
State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid has recently said that despite various challenges Bangladesh would be able to generate 40% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2041.
He reiterated the country's target at the ministerial-level multi-stakeholder roundtable "Implementation of COP28 Decisions in the Energy Sector Opportunities, Constraints, and Next Steps: The Way Head" in the Berlin Energy Transition Dialogue 2024 on 20 March.
Currently, as per statistics of the Sustainable and Renewable Energy Development Authority, so far about 989.61 MW of solar power plants have been set up across the country of which 371.48 MW is off-grid and the remaining 618.13 is on-grid.
The country's on-grid total power generation capacity is more than 25,000 MW and off-grid power generation capacity is another 5000 MW.
The Power Division's official documents show that in the last three years, the government approved proposals for setting up about 13 solar and wind power plants, having a total capacity of 609 MW by 2025.
"Letter of intent (LOI) and notification of award (LOI) were issued to the private sponsors of these renewable energy projects," said a top official referring to the documents.
He said of these projects, two are wind power projects having (30+70) 100 MW and the remaining 11 are solar power projects.
