Beximco plans to set up a 30-megwatt solar power plant in the northern district of Panchagarh through a joint venture with a Chinese company.

The cabinet committee on purchase yesterday approved a proposal for power purchase from the joint venture at a rate of Tk 11.12 a unit under a 20-year contract.

Beximco Power Co Ltd and Jiangsu Zhongtian Technology of China will set up the solar power plant at Tentulia in Panchagarh. The company with its own fund will procure the land and set up the transmission line and sub-station.

During the visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping, Bangladesh and China signed 13 agreements, some of them in the private sector where investments amount to $13.6 billion.

Among the deals, Beximco Group will produce 2,180MW, of which 1,980MW would come from coal-fired plants and 200MW from a solar power plant.

Beximco and its Chinese partners will invest a total of $3.2 billion to produce the power.

The cabinet committee approved another proposal where Bangladesh's Green Housing and Energy and China's CETC International will purchase solar power at Tk 10 a unit for 20 years.

The joint venture will also set up a 5MW solar power plant in Lalmonirhat.

The company will also bear the cost of land procurement and construction of a transmission line and sub-station.