Bangladesh slashes import duty on solar inverters

The government of Bangladesh has cut the import duty on solar inverters from 10% to 1%. The measure aims to promote solar power generation.

The government said the duty cut would reduce project costs and attract more investment in clean energy. Officials noted that the domestic PV sector had long called for the move, which was enacted on June 22 with the passage of the fiscal year 2025-26 budget law.

Inverters account for about 15% of total costs in solar power projects, said Dipal C. Barua, chairman of the Bright Green Energy Foundation. “The duty cut will help lessen project cost and increase affordability,” he added.

Mostafa Al Mahmud, president of the Bangladesh Sustainable and Renewable Energy Association, said the exemption was a long-standing demand of stakeholders raised across multiple government forums.

“As the government lowered import duty on inverters, the other taxes will also go down,” he said. He added that authorities must now ensure storage systems are more widely available to support green power generation.

The government is now reviewing its net-metering policy to encourage rooftop PV adoption by households and businesses.

Earlier this year, the Bangladesh Power Development Bank (BPDB) issued 41 solar tenders between December 2024 and January of this year, but received no bids. The utility extended deadlines repeatedly to attract interest.

Soon after, it launched a new tender for 2.65 GW of solar capacity. Golam Mortuza, director of independent power producer Cell-1, told pv magazine that the BPDB had eased some conditions following investor feedback and could revise them further.

Bangladesh has 1,550 MW of renewable energy capacity, including 1,256 MW from solar.

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