Speakers tell webinar
In December 2020, a knitting factory in Kashimpur in Gazipur had a rooftop solar panel installed for 19.89 crore Tk, saving the company 3.19 crore Tk per year, according to a study.
The investment will be returned by 6.23 years, according to the study, after analyzing the electricity production data for the last two and a half years.
Dipal C Barua, chairman of Bright Green Energy Foundation (BGEF), presented the study findings at a webinar yesterday, titled “Power generation from rooftop solar energy and solution to power crisis”.
Dipal said the 2.8MW solar panel produced 35.47 lakh kilowatt-hours of electricity for the knitwear company, if it had to buy this amount of electricity from the distribution company, it had to pay Tk 3.19 crore.
“That’s the savings,” he added while presenting the keynote paper.
The paper mentioned that Bangladesh has the potential of generating 1,509 MW of electricity from solar panel by the end of 2024 on the roofs of government office buildings, RMG factories, and primary schools, which would be a relief from the energy crisis in the short term.
“Only using the roofs of community-based institutions like schools, madrasas, mosques, and temples, there would be the possibility to generate 4,369 MW electricity,” Dipal said.
To increase the use of renewable energy, the country should waive taxes, VAT and import duty on solar panels and inverters for at least two years, he said.
Waseqa Ayesha Khan, president of the parliamentary standing committee on the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources, said local technology and innovation will be encouraged instead of depending on imports.
Bangladesh Energy Society (BES) organised the webinar and BES president Md Abul Kalam Azad presided over the programme. Chair of Sustainable and Renewable Energy Development Authority (SREDA) Munira Sultana also joined.
