State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid Saturday said that the government has been working to supply uninterrupted electricity at affordable price with taking challenge.
“The power sector needs $75 billion in investment over the next 15 years to ensure uninterrupted power supply at affordable price,” he said while addressing a 3-day regional climate conference titled: “Energy Policy: Ensuring access to affordable, reliable and modern energy service at towards a resilience South Asia: Regional Climate Summit 2023” at a hotel in the city.
The state minister addressed the conference as the keynote speaker and said that a successful transition from fossil fuels to clean energy requires coordinated and joint initiatives.
However, power and energy consumption vary from country to country, he observed, adding, “Renewable, especially, solar projects have some specific challenges. It needs huge land and it’s difficult to implement in a country like Bangladesh where there is land scarcity.”
“But these changes could be addressed through technological advancement and its proper use,” said Nasrul Hamid.
He said that Bangladesh has taken various measures and initiatives to develop renewable energy including increasing renewable and clean energy consumption, preparing for Integrated Energy and Power Master Plan, Solar Irrigation Roadmap and renewable energy policy.
Nasrul Hamid said that there are opportunities for investors to work on solar irrigation pump, solar street light, solar drinking water system, biomass plan, and waste to energy projects.
He added that over six million solar systems have been installed across the country, resulting over 20 million people are getting electrify.
“We have set a target to generate 24,000 MW of electricity from renewable sources by 2041. Some 108 renewable energy projects having generation capacity of 10,000 MW are under implementation,” said Nasrul Hamid.
The seminar was also addressed by Research and Innovation Center for Science and Engineering Dr Mohammad Anis Talukdar, Research Director of CPD Khandaker Golam Moazzem, Delegation of the European Utilities Green Inclusive Development Team Leader Iduin Kukuk, Grameenphone’s CCAO Hans Martin and Director of Centre for Energy Research (CER) Shahriar Ahmed Chowdhury.
Environment Country Director of ActionAid Farah Kabir moderated the session.
