Japanese, Chinese firms to build 370MW solar power plants

Two Japanese companies and one Chinese firm have received approval from Bangladesh to invest in three solar-based power plants.

The cabinet committee on purchase gave its nod to the project proposals yesterday. The plants will be built in Dinajpur, Bandarban and Feni.

The plants will have a combined capacity to produce 370 megawatts of electricity. The government will purchase power for 20 years.

A 200MW plant will be set up at the Barapukuria coal mine area in Dinajpur with an estimated investment of Tk 7,168 crore. A consortium of Parker Bangladesh and Japan's Sumitomo Corporation will build it. The price of per kilowatt-hour electricity would be Tk 11.06.

A joint venture, which includes China's Fujian Yongfu Power Engineering Company Ltd, will construct a 70MW plant in Lama upazila of Bandarban at a cost of Tk 2,486 crore. Each unit of electricity will be priced at Tk 10.96.

Marubeni Corporation, a Japanese trading and investment business conglomerate, is investing in a 100MW plant in Sonagazi of Feni. The plant will be constructed at an expenditure of Tk 3,580 crore and power will cost Tk 11.05 per unit.

Currently, Bangladesh's power generation capacity stands at 23,871MW. Of the amount, 1,194 MW comes from renewable energy sources.

The government plans to raise power generation capacity from renewable sources to 24,000 MW by 2041, or 40 percent of the total.

The number of ongoing projects related to renewable sources is 30 and another 79 project proposals are under consideration, according to a power division document.

The purchase committee also approved a proposal to buy this year's 22nd shipment of liquefied natural gas from the international spot market at a cost of Tk 643.26 crore. Gunvor Singapore Pte Ltd will supply the energy. Per unit of LNG will be priced at $14.87.

Bangladesh has started importing LNG from the spot market since September 2020.