Bangladesh’s central bank has formed a US$125 million revolving fund to finance technology development and support the country's export-oriented industry, including the import of renewable energy-related machinery and technology.
The refinancing scheme from the central bank is also available to upgrade machinery for waste, water, wind and heat management in factories.
One of the primary aims of of the fund is to enhance capacity, sustainability, environment-friendly, and energy efficient production in factories.
The low cost scheme will charge entrepreneurs up to 5% interest at the highest. The state-owned banks and private commercial banks will disburse the funds among company owners that have successfully applied for refinancing scheme loans.
A senior central bank official told pv magazine that in line with the sustainable development goals many Bangladeshi entrepreneurs are now setting up green factories for energy efficiency and also using renewable energy to run their establishments.
The new fund will help them acquire the latest renewable energy-related machinery and technologies for their green factories.
The official said the new refinancing fund was established following the creation of a policy making it easier for banks and financial institutions to offer sustainable financing as part of the government’s efforts to achieve global sustainable development goals.
Popular content
Under the policy the banks and financial institutions were asked to disburse at least 2% of their annual loans for green financing, which include renewable energy and effluent treatment plants, among others.
Dipal C. Barua, president of the Bangladesh Solar and Renewable Energy Association, hailed the refinancing scheme and making the funding available for renewable energy related machinery and technologies.
“Many local entrepreneurs are interested in setting up solar module factories here jointly with world renowned companies. The new scheme will help us to transfer technology if we can secure funding from there,” he said.
Mr. Barua said the low cost fund would be a big help in expanding the use of renewable energy related products and technology in Bangladesh.
He expressed hope that the efforts would one day result in most of the people in the country using renewable power and products on a daily basis.
Presently Bangladesh produces 716.65 megawatts of electricity from renewabales, while a number of solar power plants are scheduled to come online this year.
This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com.
3 comments
By submitting this form you agree to pv magazine using your data for the purposes of publishing your comment.
Your personal data will only be disclosed or otherwise transmitted to third parties for the purposes of spam filtering or if this is necessary for technical maintenance of the website. Any other transfer to third parties will not take place unless this is justified on the basis of applicable data protection regulations or if pv magazine is legally obliged to do so.
You may revoke this consent at any time with effect for the future, in which case your personal data will be deleted immediately. Otherwise, your data will be deleted if pv magazine has processed your request or the purpose of data storage is fulfilled.
Further information on data privacy can be found in our Data Protection Policy.