World Bank’s $515m deal for reliable electricity thru Palli Bidyut
The government today signed a $515 million financing agreement with the World Bank to help 9 million people get access to reliable electric supply while transitioning to clean energy.
The Electricity Distribution Modernisation Programme will support the digitisation and modernisation of 25 rural electric cooperatives or Palli Bidyut Samitis in Dhaka and Mymensingh Division and reduce electricity system losses by over 2 per cent.
The programme will increase Bangladesh Rural Electrification Board's (BREB) delivery of electricity by 6,790 GWh while improving climate resilience of the electricity system, the World Bank said in a statement.
The agreement was signed by Fatima Yasmin, secretary of the Economic Relations Division, and Dandan Chen, World Bank's acting country director for Bangladesh and Bhutan.
"The government of Bangladesh has prioritised access to electricity in the last decade and now the entire population have access to electricity," said Chen.
"The installed generation capacity increased five-fold to 25 GW in the same period."
"Through this programme, new and emerging technologies will further strengthen the efficiency and reliability of electric supply in the country to meet the need for faster economic growth," she said.
Through the BREB, the programme will support solar metering connections for over 100 customers, bringing 150 MW of new rooftop solar capacity onto the grid.
It will improve and construct 31,000km of distribution lines and deploy 200,000 advanced metres.
In addition, the programme will help strengthen Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) and distributed renewable energy through preparation of roadmaps for deployment.
This will lead to an annual reduction of carbon emissions by 41,400 tonnes.
"The programme is aligned with the government's Integrated Energy and Power Sector Masterplan, currently under preparation, which will help establish a low carbon energy system," said Fatima Yasmin.
"Generating clean and reliable electricity can help rural communities to increase productivity and cope with events brought on by climate change."
Bangladesh currently has the largest ongoing IDA programme totaling $14.7 billion.
The World Bank was among the first development partners to support Bangladesh and has committed more than $37 billion in grants, interest-free and concessional credits to the country since its independence.
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