Post Covid-19 strategies for power and energy sectors of Bangladesh

Abstract

Bangladesh has tremendous development potential across a wide range of socioeconomic sectors. Over the past decade, its energy and power sectors have grown consistently. However, the unexpected outbreak of COVID-19 threatens the continuation of progress. To successfully overcome and comply with the post-pandemic scenario, it is necessary to implement the appropriate strategies and action plans. The goal of this study is to suggest strategies that will result in the optimal development of Bangladesh’s power and energy sectors in the post-pandemic scenario and minimize COVID-19’s long-term effects as much as possible. For this purpose, the study first examines the growth of Bangladesh’s power and energy industry, and conducts the Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, and Threats (SWOT) analysis. Then, utilizing the Analytical-Hierarchy-Process (AHP) and TOWS, the SWOT elements are ranked in order of importance so that the most crucial aspects that are useful for evaluating the current state and potential future consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic can be identified. Using the Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) technique, the suggested strategies for the recommended guidelines are then ranked. The innovation in the methodology is that the SWOT-AHP-TOWS are used and then MCDM method is applied directly on the results of the former. This method of combining these two analysis tools is novel and, to the best of our knowledge, has not previously been utilized in any other publication. The findings are threefold — the quantitative results of the SWOT-AHP, the formulated TOWS strategies, and the ranking of the strategies by the MCDM. Lastly, these strategies are linked to the current nine global goals that Bangladesh is a part of, which benefit its power industry to grow after the COVID-19 pandemic.