Renewable energy in Bangladesh refers to the use of

renewable energy Renewable energy (also called green energy) is energy made from renewable resource, renewable natural resources that are replenished on a human lifetime, human timescale. The most widely used renewable energy types are solar energy, wind pow ...

to generate electricity in

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

. The current renewable energy comes from biogas that is originated from biomass,

hydro power Hydropower (from Ancient Greek -, "water"), also known as water power or water energy, is the use of falling or fast-running water to produce electricity or to power machines. This is achieved by converting the gravitational potential or kin ...

solar Solar may refer to: Astronomy * Of or relating to the Sun ** Solar telescope, a special purpose telescope used to observe the Sun ** A device that utilizes solar energy (e.g. "solar panels") ** Solar calendar, a calendar whose dates indicate t ...

and

wind Wind is the natural movement of atmosphere of Earth, air or other gases relative to a planetary surface, planet's surface. Winds occur on a range of scales, from thunderstorm flows lasting tens of minutes, to local breezes generated by heatin ...

. According to National database of Renewable Energy total renewable energy capacity installed in Bangladesh 1374.68 MW. Bangladesh electricity production

Hydro energy

Karnafuli Hydroelectric Power Station Kaptai Dam () is on the Karnaphuli River at Kaptai Upazila, Kaptai, upstream from Chittagong in Rangamati District, Bangladesh. It is an earth-fill embankment dam with a reservoir (known as Kaptai Lake) with water storage capacity of . The prima ...

is the largest producer of renewable

hydroelectricity Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is Electricity generation, electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies 15% of the world's electricity, almost 4,210 TWh in 2023, which is more than all other Renewable energ ...

in Bangladesh. Inaugurated in 1962, it provides 58.97% of renewable energy share as of 2021.

Solar power

As of 2024, 459

megawatts The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named in honor o ...

are generated from 10 solar power plants in Bangladesh. The largest is the Teesta 200MW Solar Park in

Gaibandha Gaibandha () is a town and district headquarters of Gaibandha District in northern Bangladesh. It is a centre of commerce and trade of the Gaibandha District and is located under the Rangpur Division. The area of the city is approximately 10.54 ...

, launched in 2023. Bangladesh entered its renewable energy era in 2017 with the launch of a 3MW solar power plant in Sharishabari, Jamalpur. The long term average sunshine data indicates that the period of bright sunshine hours in the coastal regions of Bangladesh varies from 3 to 11 hours daily. The

insolation Solar irradiance is the power per unit area ( surface power density) received from the Sun in the form of electromagnetic radiation in the wavelength range of the measuring instrument. Solar irradiance is measured in watts per square metre ...

in Bangladesh varies from 3.8 kWh/m²/day to 6.4 kWh/m²/day at an average of 5 kWh/m²/day. Studies have shown that Bangladesh has a solar power potential of 50,174 megawatts, which could meet approximately 80% of the country's projected 2041 energy demand of 60,000 megawatts. These indicate that there are good prospects for

solar thermal Solar thermal energy (STE) is a form of energy and a technology for harnessing solar energy to generate thermal energy for use in Industrial sector, industry, and in the residential and commercial sectors. Solar thermal collectors are classified ...

and

photovoltaic Photovoltaics (PV) is the conversion of light into electricity using semiconducting materials that exhibit the photovoltaic effect, a phenomenon studied in physics, photochemistry, and electrochemistry. The photovoltaic effect is commercially ...

application in the country. With an estimated 40% of the population in Bangladesh having no access to electricity, the government introduced a scheme known as solar home systems (SHS) to provide electricity to households with no grid access. The program reached 3 million households as of late 2014 and, with more than 50,000 systems being added per month since 2009, the World Bank has called it "the fastest growing solar home system program in the world." The Bangladeshi government is working towards universal electricity access by 2021 with the SHS program projected to cover 6 million households by 2017. Clean energy accessibility extended to the 8.2 million inhabitants residing in rural regions of Bangladesh, ensuring universal electricity access across all households.

Wind power

The first commercial wind power plant in Bangladesh, boasting a capacity of 60

with 22

turbines A turbine ( or ) (from the Greek , ''tyrbē'', or Latin ''turbo'', meaning vortex) is a rotary mechanical device that extracts energy from a fluid flow and converts it into useful work. The work produced can be used for generating electrical ...

, began full-scale operation on 8 March 2024 in

Cox's Bazar Cox's Bazar (; ; ) is a city, fishing port, tourism centre, and Cox's Bazar District, district headquarters in south-eastern Bangladesh. Cox's Bazar Beach, one of the most popular tourist attractions in Bangladesh, is the longest uninterrupte ...

. However, the country's first experimental wind power plant, a 0.9MW facility, was constructed by the

Bangladesh Power Development Board The Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) is a government agency operating under the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources, Government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh. It was created as a public-sector organization to boos ...

near the dam along the Muhuri River in Feni in 2005. Three years later, a 1MW wind power plant was established in

Kutubdia Kutubdia () is an upazila of Cox's Bazar District in the Division of Chittagong, Bangladesh. The upazila consists of an island in the Bay of Bengal, off the coast near Chakaria, Cox's Bazar. It was found in approximately 14th century. History A ...

, Cox's Bazar. Both experimental plants are now out of operation due to a lack of supervision and interest from the board. The long term wind flow, especially in the islands and the southern coastal belt of Bangladesh indicate that the average

wind speed In meteorology, wind speed, or wind flow speed, is a fundamental atmospheric quantity caused by air moving from high to low pressure, usually due to changes in temperature. Wind speed is now commonly measured with an anemometer. Wind spe ...

remains between 3 and 4.5 m/s for the months of March to September and 1.7 to 2.3 for the remaining period of the year. There is a good opportunity in island and coastal areas for the application of

wind mill A windmill is a machine operated by the force of wind acting on vanes or sails to mill grain (gristmills), pump water, generate electricity, or drive other machinery. Windmills were used throughout the high medieval and early modern periods; ...

s for pumping and electrification. But during the summer and monsoon seasons (March to October) there can be very low-pressure areas and storm wind speeds 200 to 300 km/h can be expected.

Wind turbine A wind turbine is a device that wind power, converts the kinetic energy of wind into electrical energy. , hundreds of thousands of list of most powerful wind turbines, large turbines, in installations known as wind farms, were generating over ...

s have to be strong enough to withstand these high wind speeds.

Tidal power

The tides at

Chittagong Division Chittagong Division (), officially Chattogram Division, is geographically the largest of the eight administrative divisions of Bangladesh. It covers the southeasternmost areas of the country, with a total area of and a population according to th ...

are predominantly semidiurnal with a large variation in range corresponding to the seasons, the maximum occurring during the south-west monsoon. In 1984, an attempt was made by mechanical engineering department of KUET to assess the feasibility of

tidal energy Tidal power or tidal energy is harnessed by converting energy from tides into useful forms of power, mainly electricity using various methods. Although not yet widely used, tidal energy has the potential for future electricity generation. T ...

in the coastal regions of Bangladesh, especially at

and at the islands of Maheshkhali and

. The average

tidal range Tidal range is the difference in height between high tide and low tide. Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by gravitational forces exerted by the Moon and Sun, by Earth's rotation and by centrifugal force caused by Earth's prog ...

was found within 4-5 meter and the

amplitude The amplitude of a periodic variable is a measure of its change in a single period (such as time or spatial period). The amplitude of a non-periodic signal is its magnitude compared with a reference value. There are various definitions of am ...

of the

spring tide Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the Moon (and to a much lesser extent, the Sun) and are also caused by the Earth and Moon orbiting one another. Tide tables ...

exceeds even 6 meter. From different calculations, it is anticipated that there are a number of suitable sites at Cox's Bazar, Maheshkhali, Kutubdia and other places where permanent basins with pumping arrangements might be constructed which would be a double operation scheme.

Waste to electric energy

In order to save the large cities from environmental pollution, the

waste management Waste management or waste disposal includes the processes and actions required to manage waste from its inception to its final disposal. This includes the collection, transport, treatment, and disposal of waste, together with monitor ...

as well as

electricity generation Electricity generation is the process of generating electric power from sources of primary energy. For electric utility, utilities in the electric power industry, it is the stage prior to its Electricity delivery, delivery (Electric power transm ...

from the

solid waste Municipal solid waste (MSW), commonly known as trash or garbage in the United States and rubbish in Britain, is a waste type consisting of everyday items that are discarded by the public. "Garbage" can also refer specifically to food waste, ...

s programme is being taken by the government.

Biogas

There mainly two types of biogas plants used in Bangladesh, floating dome type and fixed dome type. Bag type plants are also used in the country but rarely.

Geothermal energy

Geothermal potential of Bangladesh is yet to be determined. Different studies carried out by geologists have suggested possible geothermal resources in the northwest and southeast region.D.K. Guha, H. Henkel, and B. Imam, “Geothermal potential in Bangladesh - results from investigations of abandoned deep wells,” Proceedings of the World Geothermal Congress 2010, Bali, Indonesia, April 2010. Among the studied areas of northwest region, Singra-Kuchma-Bogra area, Barapukuria coal basin area, and the Madhyapara hard rock mine area − with temperature gradient above 30 °C/km and bottom hole temperature in excess of 100 °C− meet the requirements of binary cycle power plants. But to reach a foregone conclusion on exploiting the resource in a viable, feasible and economically profitable way, extensive research is required. In 2011, Anglo MGH Energy, a Dhaka-based private company announced the construction of 200 MW geothermal plant, first ever of such kind, in Thakurgaon district. But for some unknown reasons, this project never commenced, and no development in this field has been announced afterwards.

The benefits of renewable energy in Bangladesh

Expanding capacity in the electricity sector can be achieved cost-effectively through clean energy options (renewables and energy efficiency), which not only reduce

greenhouse gas emissions Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from human activities intensify the greenhouse effect. This contributes to climate change. Carbon dioxide (), from burning fossil fuels such as coal, petroleum, oil, and natural gas, is the main cause of climate chan ...

, but also increase jobs and improve human health by reducing air pollution. According to a report from the

Low Emission Development Strategies Global Partnership (LEDS GP) The Global Climate Action Partnership (GCAP), formerly the Low Emissions Development Strategies Global Partnership (LEDS GP), aims to advance climate-resilient low emission development and support transitions to a low-carbon economy through coordina ...

and based on detailed modelling analysis, the benefits of increasing clean energy in Bangladesh's power generation mix relative to ‘business-as-usual’ could generate the following cumulative results by 2030: *reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 20% *generate domestic employment of up to 55,000 full-time equivalent jobs * Potential to produce additional electricity of 30 GW from the utilisation of solar PV and 53 gigawatt (GW) of electricity potential from all solar sources. *save up to 27,000 lives, and over US$5 billion (BDT 420 billion). As of June 2023, renewable energy constitutes 4.5 percent of the total installed power capacity in Bangladesh, with 1,183 MW out of 22,215 MW coming from renewable sources, predominantly solar power.

References

External links

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