US provides $1.5 million for smart grid development in Bangladesh

The US Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) provided a nearly $1.5 million technical assistance grant to help improve the reliability, affordability and resiliency of Bangladesh's electricity grid through smart grid infrastructure. 

The USTDA gave the grant to Power Cell, a policy and planning agency under the Bangladeshi Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources. 

"For USTDA, the grant we are signing is an important example of the climate-smart infrastructure projects we are looking to support," said Ambassador Vinai Thummalapally (Ret), acting director of USTDA.  

He said, "It has the potential to shape Bangladesh's power grid, to make it more efficient and dynamic, and to create a stronger foundation for the integration of renewable energy solutions."

USTDA's assistance will provide a detailed roadmap that will provide an investment and implementation schedule for using smart grid technologies to improve the grid in Bangladesh over the next ten years.  Massachusetts-based Boston Consulting Group will carry out the assistance.

"Two-way communication brought about by a smart grid will allow us to generate and use power more intelligently and efficiently.  Implementing a smart grid is therefore an infrastructure development as potent as any bridge or flyover," said US Chargé d'Affaires Helen LaFave.

This activity advances the goals of USTDA's global partnership for climate-smart infrastructure, which connects US industry to major clean transport and energy infrastructure projects in emerging markets.