Solar power can help resolve power crisis

By AKM Moinuddin

April 11, 2009
Is there any easier way to get over the country’s vexing power crisis? Experts say yes there is. They believe solar power system can be the best option to mitigate the worsening problem.
“Solar power system has a bright prospect in Bangladesh, but the country’s potential still remains untapped simply for lack of proper government initiative,” said Grameen Shakti Managing Director Dipal Chandra Barua.
Talking to UNB, Dipal Barua said 50 percent people of the country could be brought under power supply network through solar power system within the next seven years if the government wants to do so.
Experts think that the country’s vast rural areas can easily be brought under solar power system, minimizing the mounting pressure on the national power grid.
Dr Md. Rashed Chowdhury, a faculty of the Department of Urban and Regional Planning, University of Hawaii, USA told UNB correspondent AKM Moinuddin that solar power system can make a big difference, especially in rural areas of Bangladesh, in resolving its chronic power crisis.
“Another alternative is nuclear power system, which is relatively more expensive but achievable,” said Dr Rashed, also Principal Research Scientist of the Pacific ENSO Applications Center (PEAC).
“The rural areas of Bangladesh can be brought under this service very quickly and efficiently. There is a perfect environment in Bangladesh for solar water heating. As the sun shines most of the day here, we don’t have to worry about freezing. It’s relatively less expensive and our local utility supports the purchase and installation of solar systems. All we need is to have a bill passed making it mandatory for all new homes to have solar water heaters,” Dr Rashed said.
He suggested that at this initial stage, rebates and solar tax credit system will encourage people to accept this system quickly. “Given the socioeconomic choices and constraints in Bangladesh, the government should think about it seriously.”
Grameen Shakti MD Dipal Chandra Barua, who has 13 years of experience in the field, said the price of solar panels has come down on the global market recently which will help people get it at lower prices.
“The government has decided to withdraw tax on equipments of solar panel but it’s yet to be implemented. Once it is implemented, people will get solar panel at minimum costs,” he said.
He suggested subsidy for it, loan and allowing installment for buying solar panel. “We’ve a plan to introduce the system in the country’s telecom sector too. We would set up 75 lakh more solar panels in the country by 2015. The government should encourage it, as rural people are getting power because of it,” Dipal Barua said.
Referring to rise in energy prices and rising awareness about global warming, sea-level rise and air pollution, the experts said free source of solar energy have an excellent solution to the environmental effects of fossil fuels with residential solar panels and solar power systems.
Describing how the solar panel works, a Gramen Shakhti official said solar panels harvest the sun’s energy to produce electricity to power-driven lights and appliances or in any use that requires electricity.
”Energy is created when sunlight strikes the solar panel’s crystals and causes some electrons to break loose,” he said.
The amount of power production largely depends on the quality of solar panels and technology. Panels of special semiconductors like silicon convert the sun’s energy directly into electricity.
He said Solar Home Systems (SHSs) are highly decentralized and particularly suitable for remote, inaccessible areas, and their solar programme mainly targets those areas, which have no access to conventional electricity and little chance of getting connected to the grid within 5-10 years.
About introducing solar power system, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina told parliament on April 7 that Bangladesh needs foreign assistance for installation of hydroelectric and solar-energy plants. She said the government wants to install hydroelectric and solar-energy plants to meet the growing demand for energy and power in the country.
END/UNB/AKM/