The most ambitious scenario fleshed out in a draft National Solar Energy Action Plan includes 16 GW of project capacity at large scale ‘solar hubs’ but actions will speak louder than words in a nation set to fall short of its current clean energy target.

Raach Solar and its Power Utility Bangladesh Ltd local partner have landed two contracts to supply more than 700 pumps in the north-western Bogra district, with the Asian Development Bank footing the bill.

In the wake of recent reports highlighting a global lack of clean-energy skills training, the country’s Sustainable and Renewable Energy Development Authority has said it will work with private companies to set up vocational courses.

Hero Future Energies wants to make India’s first contribution to grid scale solar in its northeastern neighbor. Plans for a 100 MW plant have been stymied by the power evacuation equipment available at the Khulna site.

A national energy strategy which prioritizes coal is being ripped up just two years after its introduction, thanks to Covid-related slumps in demand, but legislators appear likely to look to gas, rather than solar and wind power as an alternative, due to land issues and energy storage costs.

The government has finally issued guidelines on how solar-powered irrigation system owners can be paid for exporting power back to the grid. However, for those who expect to have to use grid power to augment solar from time to time, there could be a sting in the tail.

Time is running out for the government to achieve its goal of universal access to electricity by next year but Dhaka has doubled down by allocating $26 million for PV panels in hard-to-reach areas.

The companies driving the solar home system boom in the nation, in part with the help of public money, wants Dhaka to authorize the addition of PV in 18,000 public health facilities.

The two governments will form a JV which will see China invest around $500 million in setting up 450 MW of solar generation capacity and a 50 MW wind farm on land supplied by the host nation’s North-West Power Generation Company.

U.S. thinktank the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis says the nation should reorder its power network to harness cheap, modular renewables after existing power station overcapacity was worsened by plunging electricity demand during the Covid-19 shutdown.