State Minister for Power and Energy Nasrul Hamid laid emphasis on international cooperation to solve the challenges in the country’s energy sector.
“In today's interdependent world, no country can solve its energy challenges on its own. International cooperation is so crucial. Being mindful of our limited renewable resources, we have taken initiatives to import renewable energy from the neighboring countries,” he said.
“I take this opportunity to appreciate the works done so far by IRENA in advancing renewable energy,” he said.
“I would like to reiterate our commitment to work together with a view to encouraging innovative and affordable application of renewable technologies,” Hamid added.
He said that the government is exploring options like rooftop and floating solar power plants as alternatives to land-based ones due to scarcity of lands.
He said it is not possible to set up land-based large scale solar plants as lands are being used for agriculture and other necessary purposes, reports UNB.
Nasrul Hamid mentioned that Bangladesh has been making all its efforts with limited resources to promote renewable energy. “Over 20 million people of the country have been brought under the electricity facilities through setting up over 6 million solar home systems,” he added.
Nasrul Hamid said the country is currently generating 650 MW electricity from solar energy while eight grid-tied solar parks, having 231 MW capacity, were set up across the country.
He said the government has introduced to the net metering system to encourage rooftop solar while initiatives have been taken to use other sources of renewable energy like wind, waste to generate electricity.
Projects were undertaken to generate 245 MW of electricity from wind while Dhaka North City Corporation signed a contract to set up a 42.5 MW waste to energy plant.
The conference was attended by representatives from Zimbabwe, Colombia, India, United States, El Salvador, Belgium, Norway, Uruguay, Canada, Indonesia, Singapore, Greece, Spain, China, Japan, Switzerland, Croatia, Turkmenistan, Serbia, Germany, France, Italy, Sun Marino and Saudi Arabia.
