Great strides in producing renewable energy
Finding alternative sources of energy, which would not deplete too quickly over time and would not impose adverse consequences on the environment, has been at the top of the list for our planners; and all the more so since Bangladesh happens to be one of the five fastest growing economies in the world, with an increasing need for energy. Renewable and climate friendly sources of energy are also linked with reducing the greenhouses gases effect and the resultant damaging consequences of climate change, and has, since our Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan was formulated, been identified as one of the goals of Bangladesh, which aimed to generate five percent of its power needs from renewable energy sources by 2015, and 10 percent by 2020.
And a good strategy has borne fruit. According to REN21's Renewables 2020 Global Status Report (GSR) which was released on Monday, Bangladesh has achieved quite a distinction with respect to producing renewable energy, becoming one of the top six countries in terms of generating electricity using solar solutions, and, as of 2017, around eight percent of the country's total power generation capacity was sources from off-grid solar. According to the same, the electricity access in Bangladesh has almost doubled, from only 47 percent in 2010 to about 95 percent in 2019.
But that, unfortunately, is not enough. Even now, more than 80 percent of the households in Bangladesh depend on traditional sources of energy like biomass, coal and kerosene, all having serious consequences on the environment. Therefore, we believe that extra emphasis should be put on, what experts call, renewable pathways. The moot point is whether we can transit to 100 percent renewable sources in a relatively short time. A study in this regard recently has suggested that a shift to 100 percent renewable energy can provide sufficient energy for all at the lowest possible costs. The findings also unveil a high potential for reducing carbon emissions. Meanwhile, the focus of the government should be on ensuring extensive use of off-grid solar and mini-grid technologies, as well as environment friendly, clean cooking facilities.
Comments