Business Desk :
Dhaka Power Distribution Company’s (DPDC) plan to set up 1 MW rooftop solar system on different government buildings and their own structures in the city is getting delayed for lack of provision to offset a possible loss in buying electricity at higher rate from private firms, reports UNB.
As per the plan, private investors are supposed to set up the rooftop plants from where DPDC will buy electricity, official sources said.
But, they said, lack of provision to offset a possible loss in buying electricity from independent power producers (IPPs) at a higher rate is slowing down the plan.
Of the total one megawatt (1000 kilowatt) project, the DPDC has already completed a tender process for a 250-kilowatt solar system which will be set up on the rooftops of four government buildings, according to the sources.
The buildings are Children and Women Directorate Building, Education Building (Shikkha Bhaban), Food Department (Khadya Bhaban), and Shilpakala Academy.
“We’ve already completed a tender process to award the contracts to selected bidders and now waiting for singing site lease agreements with the owners of those buildings,” DPDC executive director Ramiz Uddin told UNB.
Once the site lease agreements are signed, the selected private firms will install these systems as independent power producer (IPP) from which the DPDC will buy electricity for its grid system.
But the DPDC has to buy electricity from this IPP at a higher rate against its selling rate of electricity to the consumers for which the organisation will have to incur huge loss, according to industry insiders who preferred to remain anonymous.
At present, the DPDC purchases electricity from PDB at Tk 4.90 per unit (per kilowatt hour) while the tariff for buying electricity from IPPs has been fixed at Tk 9.80.
The DPDC officials said they have submitted a petition to the Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) to provide financial support to offset the loss. The Power Ministry was also requested to create a provision to offset the loss.
The sources said the DPDC petition remained pending with the BERC for long as the regulatory body now has no chairman.
As per the BERC rule, the regulator would not be able to make such a vital decision regarding the issue until the government appointed a full-fledged chairman for the body.
The DPDC earlier set up a 50-kilowatt rooftop solar system on the Cabinet Division Building of the Bangladesh Secretariat on pilot basis at the instruction of the government. But the IPP firm is not getting its bill for selling electricity to the DPDC due to such complexity, the sources added.
State Minister for Power and Energy Nasrul Hamid, however, recently said that the government is working on fixing solar power tariff by introducing a feed in tariff (FIT) system. But, he did not give any detail in this regard.
The DPDC is expected to sign the lease agreements with the four government buildings within this year.
A study conducted by Sustainable and Renewable Energy Development Authority (Sreda) says about 1000 MW of solar power could be generated by using rooftops of buildings in Dhaka city alone.
Dhaka Power Distribution Company’s (DPDC) plan to set up 1 MW rooftop solar system on different government buildings and their own structures in the city is getting delayed for lack of provision to offset a possible loss in buying electricity at higher rate from private firms, reports UNB.
As per the plan, private investors are supposed to set up the rooftop plants from where DPDC will buy electricity, official sources said.
But, they said, lack of provision to offset a possible loss in buying electricity from independent power producers (IPPs) at a higher rate is slowing down the plan.
Of the total one megawatt (1000 kilowatt) project, the DPDC has already completed a tender process for a 250-kilowatt solar system which will be set up on the rooftops of four government buildings, according to the sources.
The buildings are Children and Women Directorate Building, Education Building (Shikkha Bhaban), Food Department (Khadya Bhaban), and Shilpakala Academy.
“We’ve already completed a tender process to award the contracts to selected bidders and now waiting for singing site lease agreements with the owners of those buildings,” DPDC executive director Ramiz Uddin told UNB.
Once the site lease agreements are signed, the selected private firms will install these systems as independent power producer (IPP) from which the DPDC will buy electricity for its grid system.
But the DPDC has to buy electricity from this IPP at a higher rate against its selling rate of electricity to the consumers for which the organisation will have to incur huge loss, according to industry insiders who preferred to remain anonymous.
At present, the DPDC purchases electricity from PDB at Tk 4.90 per unit (per kilowatt hour) while the tariff for buying electricity from IPPs has been fixed at Tk 9.80.
The DPDC officials said they have submitted a petition to the Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) to provide financial support to offset the loss. The Power Ministry was also requested to create a provision to offset the loss.
The sources said the DPDC petition remained pending with the BERC for long as the regulatory body now has no chairman.
As per the BERC rule, the regulator would not be able to make such a vital decision regarding the issue until the government appointed a full-fledged chairman for the body.
The DPDC earlier set up a 50-kilowatt rooftop solar system on the Cabinet Division Building of the Bangladesh Secretariat on pilot basis at the instruction of the government. But the IPP firm is not getting its bill for selling electricity to the DPDC due to such complexity, the sources added.
State Minister for Power and Energy Nasrul Hamid, however, recently said that the government is working on fixing solar power tariff by introducing a feed in tariff (FIT) system. But, he did not give any detail in this regard.
The DPDC is expected to sign the lease agreements with the four government buildings within this year.
A study conducted by Sustainable and Renewable Energy Development Authority (Sreda) says about 1000 MW of solar power could be generated by using rooftops of buildings in Dhaka city alone.
