Yet another solar power plant at Kaptai on cards
Earlier in 2019, the government set up a 7.4MW solar power plant near the Karnaphuli Hydropower Station
The government is mulling to establish another on-grid solar power plant in Rangamati's Kaptai upazila, as part of its efforts to generate 10% of electricity from renewable energies by 2025.
The Bangladesh Power Development Board approved the 7.6-megawatt solar power plant proposal in principle at its board meeting on 28 November last year, according to ATM Abduzzaher, manager of Karnaphuli Hydropower Station that helps the PDB in the preliminary works for the new project.
Later on 28-30 December, a team from the Planning Commission visited the 23.06-acre land proposed for the solar plant in the Brickfield area of Kaptai, he noted and added that the detailed plan including the project cost is yet to be prepared.
"Currently, the proposed area is being cleaned up," he told The Business Standard.
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"The government has a plan to establish a solar power plant there. As we have been asked to give our opinions in this regard, we have made a visit to Kaptai," Mohammad Emdad Ullah Mian, member of Planning Commission, told The Business Standard.
"We visited the existing 7.4MW solar plant there and looked for space for the proposed plant," he added.
Earlier in 2019, the government set up a 7.4MW solar power plant near the Karnaphuli Hydropower Station at Kaptai of Rangamati. It was the country's first solar power plant connected to the national grid directly.
The government is moving for the new plant as it is determined to achieve its target of generating 10% of electricity from renewables, including solar, hydropower and wind, by 2025.
Currently, the country has a capacity of generating 2% of electricity from renewables, according to the PDB. At least 12% of electricity is needed from renewable sources to attain Sustainable Development Goals or SDGs.
Earlier, the government had targets of producing at least 5% of total electricity from renewable sources by 2015 and 10% by 2020 but none of them could be achieved, according to the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources.
PDB data says the country's current power generation capacity is 22,608MW with 1.5% or 359MW (on-grid) from solar.
Bangladesh can generate 20,000MW of green electricity within 2041 by expanding solar power generation facilities, says to the "National Solar Energy Roadmap 2021-41" prepared by the Sustainable and Renewable Energy Development Authority.
Even the solar power capacity can be taken to 30,000MW with proper utilisation of riverside and abandoned lands, it estimated.
Prime minister Sheikh Haisina has been repeatedly instructing authorities concerned to utilise the unused land of the country's existing power plants and the PDB for the development of renewable energy amid a scarcity of land.
Following the directive, the Kaptai 7.4MW solar plant has been set up on 19.5 acres of land at Tk111 crore.
"The currently operational solar power plant generates an average of 26,000 units of electricity per day while the production cost per unit of electricity is Tk14," an engineer at the Karnaphuli Hydroelectric Power Station, wishing to remain unnamed, told TBS.
"The new solar plant would be more advanced in technology and would generate 28,000-30,000 units per day. As a result, the production cost will drop to Tk8 per unit," he added.
