Saudi’s Alfanar to fund 100 MW solar project in Bangladesh

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Saudi energy infrastructure company Alfanar has signed a $100 million agreement to develop a 100 MW solar project in Bangladesh.

The Riyadh-based company will finance the plant in the Feni district after a deal was signed in the presence of Bangladeshi prime minister Sheikh Hasina Wazed.

The Dhaka based Electricity Generation Company of Bangladesh (EGCB) will construct the plant with Alfanar supplying the financing.

Mohammad Alauddin, joint secretary of Bangladesh’s Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources told pv magazine the EGCB has 1,000 acres of land for the project, adding: “In Feni district there is huge non-agricultural land and that’s why investors of solar power plants [head] that way. Our government’s policy clearly states that such plants and industries will be set up in non-agricultural lands.”

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Feni district is also a draw for developers because it will be the site of the country’s largest designated economic zone: the 30,000-acre Mirsarai site, which is intended to attract businesses, and therefore increased power demand.

With a significant proportion of Feni composed of char land – sites surrounded by water – a senior official from Bangladesh’s power division told pv magazine the government is considering establishing another, 7,000-acre economic zone at the Sonagazi sub district that borders Mirsarai.

Feni already hosts a 900 kW wind power project and there are two other 100 MW solar plants and a 100 MW wind-hybrid scheme under development.

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