Bangladesh

Bangladesh has inaugurated its largest rooftop solar array under the opex model, at a location south of Dhaka.

AC Energy has revealed plans to invest in solar projects throughout Asia, including Bangladesh, by forming a joint venture with Germany’s ib vogt GmbH.

Rural Power Company Limited (RPCL), a Bangladeshi state-owned developer, is seeking partners to build a 50 MW solar plant at a site just outside of Dhaka.

A decade on from energy rationing, head of state Sheikh Hasina is poised to announce the achievement of an historic goal which has been made possible with the help of off-grid photovoltaics.

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.