Bangladesh currently does not have a recycling center for PV module recycling. But according to a group of local scientists, the country could evolve into a regional hub for PV waste recycling if proper guidelines are implemented.

American power company Eleris Energy has agreed to construct five 200MW solar plants on the Swarna Dweep island administered by the army and used for training exercises, with the capacity due online within five years.

While the government is moving to require foreign modules, inverters, batteries and charge controllers be subject to mandatory testing, the fear is that there are not sufficient testing sites in the country to achieve that ambition.

With the finances of national utility the Bangladesh Power Development Board in disarray thanks to rising capacity payments for often-inactive conventional power plants, renewables offer the hope of fiscal sustainability, according to the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis.

The first green bond issued in Bangladesh is attracting investors and funding Beximco Group’s large-scale, Chinese-backed solar PV projects with a combined capacity of 230 MW. The government may soon use bonds to similarly finance infrastructure projects.

A 70MW solar plant at Pabna has today been rubber-stamped, together with a 50MW site in the Mymensingh district proposed by Total Eren alongside Norwegian and local development partners.

Plans for a solar farm in the district of Pabna have been scaled back from the 100MW envisaged by a consortium of developers and the partner companies have also had to reduce the value of the tariff they hoped to receive from the government for the power generated.

The distributed solar power generation sector has started to gain momentum in Bangladesh as industrialists show increased interest in the financial and environmental benefits.

Bangladesh’s first agrivoltaic solar power plant is set to receive government approval on Wednesday, Dec. 29.

A 100 MW solar field near the port of Mongla is expected to begin commercial operation within days and will take the nation to almost 880 MW of clean power generation capacity.