UNB, Dhaka :
The government’s target to install 6 million solar home system (SHS) by 2021 faces a huge challenge due to policy inconsistency and Rural Electrification Board’s uncoordinated expansion of electrification.
The government has set the target as part of ‘Vision 2021’ under the Power System Master Plan where the country’s total power generation was planned to increase to 30,000 MW by 2021. Of this, 10 percent electricity will come from renewable energy sources.
The statistics provided by Infrastructure Development Company Limited (IDCOL), a state-owned non-bank financial institution which is responsible for implementing the SHS programme, reveals that a total of 3.901 million SHS were installed across the country until December 2015, maintaining a great momentum in the job.
The IDCOL says some 63,620 solar home systems were installed in March 2014 which came down to 48,391 in March 2015. This number fell to 15,905 in January, 2016, showing a clear decline in the trend.
Some IDCOL partner organisations (POs), which are mainly NGOs and private firms, are setting up the SHS with its financial support from the World Bank and other donor agencies. According to industry insiders, free distribution of solar panel under ‘Kabikha’ programme and influx of substandard solar products in the market made the things worse reducing the monthly SHS set-up to 15,000 from 60,000.
But in recent years, when the Relief and Disaster Ministry started ‘free solar panel distribution’ under its ‘Kabikha’ (food for works) and other relief works it badly affected the IDCOL’s programme.
Besides, huge substandard solar panels entered the market with cheap rates in absence of BSTI standard, making the situation worse.
“These two things have affected badly the SHS programme that had acclaimed to be the most successful single largest programme of its kind in the world,” said Sohel Ahmed, CEO of Grameen Shakti, a leading PO of IDCOL. “Free solar panel distribution under ‘Kabikha’ and other relief programmes gave an impression to the rural people that solar panels are free product. Now, people want to get it free, not to buy it,” he added.
It is alleged that substandard solar panels are being distributed though such relief programmes in many areas which are not properly working. The PO officials said the IDCOL programme experienced a drastic fall due to recent uncoordinated fast expansion of rural electrification.
The Rural Electrification Board (REB) is now providing 300,000 electricity connections per month without any coordination with IDCOL which overlaps in many areas with IDCOL’s solar programme.
“Many people who installed the SHS in their homes under IDCOL programme are now putting off their systems after receiving REB power connections. As a result, the POs are not getting the due payment from the clients that put them in financial crisis,” said Dipal C Barua, President of Bangladesh Solar and Renewable Energy Association (BSREA), a body representing the private sector entrepreneurs.
The government’s target to install 6 million solar home system (SHS) by 2021 faces a huge challenge due to policy inconsistency and Rural Electrification Board’s uncoordinated expansion of electrification.
The government has set the target as part of ‘Vision 2021’ under the Power System Master Plan where the country’s total power generation was planned to increase to 30,000 MW by 2021. Of this, 10 percent electricity will come from renewable energy sources.
The statistics provided by Infrastructure Development Company Limited (IDCOL), a state-owned non-bank financial institution which is responsible for implementing the SHS programme, reveals that a total of 3.901 million SHS were installed across the country until December 2015, maintaining a great momentum in the job.
The IDCOL says some 63,620 solar home systems were installed in March 2014 which came down to 48,391 in March 2015. This number fell to 15,905 in January, 2016, showing a clear decline in the trend.
Some IDCOL partner organisations (POs), which are mainly NGOs and private firms, are setting up the SHS with its financial support from the World Bank and other donor agencies. According to industry insiders, free distribution of solar panel under ‘Kabikha’ programme and influx of substandard solar products in the market made the things worse reducing the monthly SHS set-up to 15,000 from 60,000.
But in recent years, when the Relief and Disaster Ministry started ‘free solar panel distribution’ under its ‘Kabikha’ (food for works) and other relief works it badly affected the IDCOL’s programme.
Besides, huge substandard solar panels entered the market with cheap rates in absence of BSTI standard, making the situation worse.
“These two things have affected badly the SHS programme that had acclaimed to be the most successful single largest programme of its kind in the world,” said Sohel Ahmed, CEO of Grameen Shakti, a leading PO of IDCOL. “Free solar panel distribution under ‘Kabikha’ and other relief programmes gave an impression to the rural people that solar panels are free product. Now, people want to get it free, not to buy it,” he added.
It is alleged that substandard solar panels are being distributed though such relief programmes in many areas which are not properly working. The PO officials said the IDCOL programme experienced a drastic fall due to recent uncoordinated fast expansion of rural electrification.
The Rural Electrification Board (REB) is now providing 300,000 electricity connections per month without any coordination with IDCOL which overlaps in many areas with IDCOL’s solar programme.
“Many people who installed the SHS in their homes under IDCOL programme are now putting off their systems after receiving REB power connections. As a result, the POs are not getting the due payment from the clients that put them in financial crisis,” said Dipal C Barua, President of Bangladesh Solar and Renewable Energy Association (BSREA), a body representing the private sector entrepreneurs.
