DHAKA, Mar 14, 2024 (BSS) - Speakers at a webinar today echoed the ever-increasing importance of rooftop solar expansion in Bangladesh.

Energy & Power magazine and Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) jointly organized the webinar titled “Scaling up rooftop solar deployment in Bangladesh”, which was moderated by editor of the energy and power magazine Mollah Amzad Hossain.

In the keynote paper, IEEFA Lead Energy Analyst of Bangladesh, Shafiqul Alam said Bangladesh currently has 166.88MW capacity under both net-metered and non-net-metered systems, adding, “With several rounds of power tariff adjustments in the last one and a half years, rooftop solar is more economically compelling now than ever.”

He mentioned that the central bank’s refinancing scheme is the cheapest source of funding for rooftop solar but 70 environment-friendly projects, including rooftop solar, compete for Tk. 400 crore which was insufficient for scaling up rooftop solar. Similarly, IDCOL’s financing scheme is also a fraction of what the sector needs for a rapid scale-up. Bangladesh, therefore, would need more funding if demand surges for rooftop solar, he said.

Against these backdrops, Shafiqul Alam said, “Bangladesh needs to design a market that incentivizes and de-risks investments in rooftop solar to increase the pace of implementation and achieve scale. SREDA needs to step up efforts in enhancing the capacity of different stakeholders and raising awareness of different building owners.”

The CEO of IDCOL said that rooftop solar is one of the key financing areas of IDCOL. However, he agreed with the keynote speaker that IDCOL’s facility would not be enough with respect to the demand for financing in the sector.”

He observed that awareness raising programmes for rooftop solar is necessary.

Former Dean of BUET, Professor Ijaz, Engr Nurul Aktar, President of Bangladesh Solar and Renewable Energy Association (BSREA) and IEEFA South Asia’s director, Vibhuti Garg spoke on the issue.

Chief Guest of the webinar, Director General of Power Cell, Engineer Mohammad Hossain said that Bangladesh has done very well with solar home systems.

“Now the wave is for rooftop solar. We are thinking about removing the 70% restriction on rooftop solar installation capacity. We are also working on corporate power purchase agreement. As we are working on improving grid quality to accommodate nuclear power plants, the grid issue due to variable rooftop solar units will also be addressed,” he said.

Mohammad Hossain further added that as the focus is not to affect agricultural land rooftop solar is a very important avenue to expand the renewable energy sources.