Bangladesh needs to sow more seeds with renewable energy technologies while the ground of nuclear energy is yet to be implanted

Bangladesh is not alone in finding difficulties to fulfil its domestic energy demand; many countries around the world are facing similar problems. It’s an enormous and daunting task to find the new sources of energy in the face of ever increasing energy demand and price hike. Bangladesh is very vulnerable to many natural disasters and the impacts of climate change due to its unique geographical position, but as a whole, the country is very fortunate to have year-round sunlight, which is in no doubt a matter for jealousy of those who live in the Northern Hemisphere.  Not only year-round sunlight in Bangladesh but also strong wind which blows in the South of the country. In the summer Bangladesh has strong south-westerly wind and sea-breeze and in the winter gentle north-easterly wind and land-breeze blow through one of the longest coastal lines in the world.

The demand for power will rise to 20,000 MW by 2020 in Bangladesh (Barua, 2009). In the face of such massive energy demand, Bangladesh has got enormous potential to harness the solar and wind power to produce electricity. Energy that come from natural resources such as sunlight, wind, geothermal heat, rain, tidal waves are called renewable energy and they are naturally replenished, therefore considered as green or clean energy sources.

Over the past 20 years, installations of wind turbines and solar panels have grown faster than any other energy technologies around the world. Countries, for example Germany, Denmark, Iceland and the Maldives have set the targets to fulfil their 100% energy demand from renewable sources by 2050. Brazil has set their target to achieve 75% of electricity by 2030, China 15% by 2020 and India 20GW solar by 2022. Over 85 countries had a policy target by 2009, up from 45 countries just four years before (Teske and Chisholm, Greenpeace, 26 August, 2011).

Bangladesh also has a target to fulfil its 10% energy demand from renewable energy technologies by 2020. It is possible if good initiatives and right policies are in place, however bear in mind that having the right policies and initiatives are not often good enough in Bangladeshi context, its simply because at the operational level it loses the sight of its original purpose due to the politics and behaviour of bureaucratic organisations , corruption, negligence and bribery.

Nevertheless, the Renewable energy revolution has already started in Bangladesh. To date, there are more than 500,000 installed stand-alone Photovoltaic (PV) systems, generating over 25 megawatts of power (Kamal, New Age, 22 October, 2011). In this journey, government and non-governmental organisations such as Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB), Local Government Engineering Department (LGED), Rural Electrification Board (REB), Infrastructure Development Company Limited (IDCOL), Gameen Shakti, and Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC) are few examples who have been contributing towards renewable energy technologies - making this a reality in Bangladesh to achieve the overall goal towards a sustainable future in energy supply.

Government has also removed all VAT and taxes from solar panels. Bangladesh Bank has created a special fund of 200 crore Taka to facilitate renewable energy technologies. Bangladesh recently signed a $300 million loan agreement with the Asian Development Bank and this loan will be used mainly to install new generators in Bangladesh's aging power plants, while new facilities will be built for renewable energy (AP News, 4 January, 2012). Also, IDCOL plans to install 10 lakh solar home systems by 2012 (Kamal, New Age, 22 October, 2011).

Indeed, things are looking very promising. But, with these big opportunities there are also many problems. High upfront cost is still too much for people to bear. Let alone financial costs for the general people to obtain solar panels or the wind turbines - what about tackling the waste issues? PV or solar panels usually have their lifespan about 30 yrs, which means there will be an end-of-life situation in the foreseeable future for presently installed solar panels. Disposing the older green technologies in a profitable and environmental friendly manner will be a big challenge for Bangladesh. Manufacturing, distribution, installation, recycling and disposing green energy technologies have potentials to create green jobs from where local economy could hugely be benefited but it is still a long way to go. At the same time, a proper, well organised and effective waste management and recycling system in Bangladesh is still shaky and remotely achievable in many years to come.

Bangladesh has a big plan for its energy future. In 2011, an agreement was signed with Russia for setting up a nuclear power plant which will cost up to US$1.0 billion. Normally, it needs eight to nine years to set up a 600-1000 megawatt (MW) power plant. The country plans to set up at least a 1000MW nuclear power plant within a decade (Khan, 2009). It is feasible to build a nuclear power plant with the help of a supper power of the world, yet an unsafe response per se, considering issues related to cost, disposal of radioactive waste, country’s health and safety records and above all adverse climatic conditions. If Bangladesh goes nuclear then one of my concerns is that the advancement of renewable energy technology will eventually slow down or even in worst case it will come to an end.

Besides nuclear ambition, I believe that there need to be parallel policy measures for further development and deployment of renewable energy technologies in every corner of Bangladesh. Once Bangladesh starts this nuclear journey, it will be practically impossible to transform back and we can now see how developed nations are struggling to set up their own green energy infrastructures as for many years they have been dependent on nuclear energy.

Energy-starved Bangladesh needs renewable energy technology, even if it fulfils the tiny percentage of energy shortfall – at least for now but over time it needs to get mature, therefore let the renewable energy revolution grow much further.