First ever grid-connected wind power projects re-tendered
The board intends to select sponsors to develop 50MW wind projects each in Chandpur and Cox’s Bazar cities
Highlights
- 100MW plants to be built at Chandpur and Inani in Cox's Bazar
- Plants are part of govt's 150MW grid-connected wind power initiative
- Projects will be launched on build-operate-own (BOO) basis
- BPDB aims to start the projects from February next year
- Deadline for submitting bids is November 3, 2020
The Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) – the lone state authorised electricity purchaser – has re-invited bids to develop the country's first ever grid-connected wind power projects at two sites.
The board intends to select sponsors to develop 50MW wind projects each in Chandpur and Cox's Bazar cities on a build-operate-own (BOO) basis for 20 years. The deadline for submitting bids is November 3, and the pre-bid meeting will be held on October 8 this year.
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These two plants are part of the government's 150MW grid-connected wind power initiatives to be built in Mongla, Inani in Cox's Bazar and Chandpur.
In July last year, the BPDB floated a tender inviting developers for the projects. But it found no bid for the Chandpur and Inani plants at that time.
Speaking about the plan, BPDB's IPP Chief Engineer Md Mahbubur Rahman told The Business Standard that they are going to start the projects in early February 2021.
"The projects have been planned based on the results of a survey conducted by the Sustainable and Renewable Energy Development Authority (SREDA) in different locations throughout the country to sort out the feasibility of wind power," he added.
The SREDA conducted a wind mapping study at nine different sites across Bangladesh to find the speed of the wind and the feasibility of producing electricity from wind. The project was completed in 2017.
The new tender read that the project developers will be selected through a competitive bidding process and they will be required to manage necessary land, financing, and key project documents.
As per the revised Power Sector Master Plan (PSMP), the government has a target to generate 15% electricity from renewable sources out of the country's total demand of 60,000MW by 2041.
The total installed power capacity by the BPDB is about 20.8GW. Gas-based projects account for 55% of the installed capacity.
Out of 648.6MWof renewable power, the country has only 35MW grid-connected solar power and 225MW hydro power. The rest comes from Solar Home Systems (SHS).
The government is now working to increase the green energy capacity as part of its election mandate, and inviting international financers to invest in this sector.
In 2019, the World Bank approved $185 million to facilitate 310MW of renewable energy generation capacity in Bangladesh to meet the growing demand for electricity in the country.
