‘Land scarcity is a myth’

Currently, renewables account for two percent of Bangladesh’s installed power generation capacity. The country has a target to raise it to 30 percent by 2030. Photo: Star/File

A study shows that land scarcity for solar power plants is a myth and the demand of power can be met by 2,050 solar plants being installed on public land. The study -- jointly conducted by Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (Bela) and Coastal Livelihood and Environmental Action Network (CLEAN) -- was presented in a seminar in Sylhet yesterday.

It shows the annual power demand in Sylhet division will reach 15,086 gigawatts by 2050. The government, as per Mujib Climate Prosperity Plan, aims to generate 100 percent of power through renewable energy. With an aim to generate 12,765.3 gigawatt power annually, a total of 10,269.5 acres of space is required (for installing solar power plants), the study suggests.

The study shows 45,158 acres of available space -- including khas land, rooftop, waterbody and vegetable land -- in the division, where solar power plants, with a capacity of 10,664 megawatt, can be built. Abdul Kadir, chief engineer of BPDB in Sylhet, said, "Solar power is a cost-efficient and sustainable way of generating energy. We are still reliant on fossil fuels to generate power. But if we can move to solar power, there will be no dependency on power generation."

Prof Romel Ahmed, head of the department of Forestry and Environmental Science of Shahjalal University of Science and Technology; Arif Ahammed, assistant professor of the department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering; Saad Been Mosharof, lecturer of the department of Mechanical Engineering; Banani Das, assistant director of the Department of Environment; Fazlul Karim, executive engineer of Power Development Board in Sylhet and Muntasir Majumder, assistant general manager of Palli Bidhut Samity, also spoke at the event.

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