The power of renewables

Everyone is worried about the future. Whether it's personal, political, social, technological or environmental, there is a point where it all becomes quite blurred. However, the sense of dread surrounding the future of the planet has only increased, effectively resulting in a feeling of suffocation not unlike what Dhaka city's overcrowding can induce. There are some initiatives that have already been taken by the government and people of Bangladesh to address the climate crisis, and to meet the Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG 7) – Affordable and Clean Energy. There is also immense potential in Bangladesh yet to be explored, such as virtual power plants.

Bangladesh has access to one invaluable natural resource in abundance: sunlight. But are we doing enough to harness its power? Across Dhaka city, one sees most buildings having solar panels installed on their rooftops. This is mainly due to a building code that requires a small percentage of electricity generated by renewable resources in order to attain a gas connection. Unfortunately, in most cases, the solar panels are only used as far as to power security lights. Were they instead connected to the house circuit, there could be significant benefits to the residents.

Dr Sebastian Groh, CEO of SOLshare (a climate tech start-up) and lecturer at Brac University, says, "Let us say you have 20kWp (kilowatt peak) on your roof, which will require a space of 150sq-m and it will, on a yearly average, produce roughly 80kWh (kilowatt hour) per day, or 2.30MWh (megawatt hour) per month. For comparison, a 1.5-tonne AC consumes, depending on its level of energy efficiency, approximately between 2.0kW and 2.5kW. Hence, if you run your AC for three hours a day, this comes to 6.0kWh to 7.5kWh." This means that proper utilisation of the available solar panels could lead to generating as much as the electricity required to power 10-12 ACs daily. As a result, electricity bills as well as the load on the national grid would be reduced.

In the industrial sector, many RMG factories are turning to solar power as their main source of electricity. Under the net metering policy, these factories with solar rooftop projects installed are not only able to meet most of their electricity needs through solar power, but they are also able to feed surplus solar energy into the national grid. This would result in the company's utility bill to be reduced by the amount being fed to the national grid. The government requires that up to 70 percent of the sanctioned load be powered by solar.

Theoretically, this could be implemented in residential homes as well, where there are solar panels already installed on the rooftops. It would have to be ensured that these homes are constructed in a three-phase power supply system with a rating of 440 volts. Additionally, regulatory permission would be needed to adopt net metering at a residence.

As far as renewable energy is concerned, Bangladesh has another vast area of opportunity in the nearly 2.5 million three-wheeler electric vehicles used in the transport of goods and passengers nationwide. These are powered by lead acid batteries, which are energy-hungry and have maintenance and operational challenges. Increased adoption of lithium ion batteries would show improvements in performance and income abilities of the drivers.

These batteries would also play a key role in the implementation of a virtual power plant (VPP), the market for which is growing globally. VPPs make use of distributed assets – such as solar panels and batteries of electric vehicles – and aggregates the available energy to serve the wider population, just like any other power station. A whitepaper published by SOLshare proposes that there is around 30 percent of the battery's charge remaining when the vehicles return after completing the day's trips. Provided the government's provision is obtained, the power from these batteries could be sold to the national grid during hours of peak demand, easing the grid's strain. Later into the night, with the help of cloud technology, the batteries would automatically charge from the grid at a lower tariff rate (low demand). The benefits of renewable technology can also increase if solar panels are installed on the rooftops of the garages.

It has just been announced that Bangladesh is going to start producing its own lithium ion batteries. An ambitious project, Bangladesh Lithium Battery Ltd, with an investment of Tk 600 crore, has already built its factory to produce these batteries and aims to be operational by 2024. Terming this a milestone development, the Dhaka Electric Supply Company Ltd (Desco) Managing Director Md Kausar Ameer Ali recently said three to four million three-wheeler electric vehicles in the country, which currently run on lead acid batteries, could soon be running on lithium ion batteries. He also expressed interest in constructing accessible charging stations for electric vehicles across the nation. This is emblematic of the kind of government support needed to further the cause of developing sustainable environmental solutions. Moreover, this takes us a step closer to making VPPs a reality.

In the Western developed nations, electric vehicles have become yet another symbol of wealth and elevated class. It is aspirational to be able to afford and drive EVs. In a way, this is preventing us from building a sustainable future by keeping innovative solutions restricted within a minority. But the case is completely the opposite for a country like Bangladesh. The use of EVs here is a means to meet the needs of the drivers and garage owners from low- and middle-income backgrounds. Ultimately, this is exactly what makes lithium ion batteries, virtual power plants and renewable energy such a rich opportunity to pave the way towards a future that takes into account the needs of the masses.

Madiha Athar Khan is a tech product manager and art enthusiast.