Agricultural Residue Potential for Electricity Generation in Bangladesh

Abstract

Renewable energy based electricity generation is getting momentum around the world to mitigate the rapid depletion of fossil fuel and its negative impact on environment. Bangladesh is an energy poor country has given the emphasis to extract energy from available renewable sources. Rural energy need of the country is mainly met by agricultural residue. This paper presents the country’s total agricultural residue potential available during the fiscal year 2012-2013. The assessment estimated that the total amount of dry recoverable agricultural residue is 36.48 million tons. This amount has an energy potential of 582.36 Peta Joules (PJ) which is equivalent to 161.81 Trillion Watt hour (TWh) of electricity. The paper also shows the present status of electricity generation based on agricultural residue in Bangladesh.