Electricity Generation In Bangladesh Research Articles

Sustainable energy transition in Bangladesh: Challenges and pathways for the future

AbstractThe industrial development of a country plays a vital role in its overall progress and is closely tied to its capacity of electricity generation. However, the scarcity of natural resources and increasing costs of fuel in global markets pose significant challenges for developing countries like Bangladesh in managing the rising expenses of electricity generation. Consequently, the government of Bangladesh is exploring alternative energy resources such as solar, wind, hydroelectricity, biomass, and biogas to supplement fossil fuels and optimize electricity generation cost. This paper aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the current status of natural resources, including gas, coal, and oil, which are conventionally used for electricity generation in Bangladesh. It highlights concerns about dwindling resource availability and their impact on the country's energy landscape. Through numerical analysis, it demonstrates the detrimental effects of relying heavily on gas‐based power plants, leading to electricity supply instability. To address the ongoing energy crisis, the paper proposes the adoption of renewable energy sources as a viable solution. Additionally, it also acknowledges the challenges associated with implementing large‐scale renewable projects in distinct areas of the country, such as limited infrastructure, technical constraints, and the need for significant investment. Overcoming these barriers is crucial for achieving widespread utilization of renewable resources. This paper concludes by offering recommendations to overcome these challenges and maximize the contributions of renewable energy in meeting future energy demands. The suggestions include developing robust infrastructure, implementing policy reforms to attract investment, emphasizing research and development, and promoting community engagement in renewable energy initiatives. It also highlights the potential of renewable energy resources in shaping a more secure and sustainable energy future for Bangladesh, emphasizing the importance of electricity generation for socio‐economic development.

Current Status of Renewal Energy: Solar System as an Alternative to Electricity Generation in Bangladesh

Under British rule, Bangladesh introduced electricity on 7 December 1901. However, Bangladesh's power system is complex and old, lacking, and poorly managed. Bangladesh will need an estimated 34,000 MW of power by 2030 to sustain and install a capacity of 25,514 MW present (2022). Bangladesh Power Distribution Board (BPDB) applied the load shading technique to manage this package. It is high time to initiate plans to combat the odd electric situation in Bangladesh. Renewable energy can be replenished at a higher rate than consumed from natural sources. Main two renewable energy areas-Sunlight and wind. This two are plentiful and all around us. The main objectives of this study are to discuss where, how, and for whom Solar can be used as electricity substitution and its challenges and opportunities.

A brief review on renewable and sustainable energy resources in Bangladesh

The power sector in Bangladesh is dependent on fossil fuels like natural gas, furnace oil, diesel, and coal. In the fiscal year 2019-20, electricity generated in Bangladesh from natural gas about 71.82%, from furnace oil about 13.25%, from diesel about 0.20%, from coal about 4.16%, from renewable energy sources about 1.23%. Imported from the nearest country by having been connected to a grid line was about 9.34% of electricity within this year. A new record for the Bangladesh the power plants produced 12,893-MW (MW) electricity on 29 May 2019, the record-breaking generation took place against the forecasted demand of 14,796 MW. Generally, in the summer season, produced electricity cannot fulfill the country's demand as a barrier for industrial production and socio-economic infrastructure development. Overcome these problems the renewable energy sources can be more helpful for the electricity generation in Bangladesh. The government encourages people in rural areas to using renewable energy-based electricity like solar energy. Within the year 2021, they are planning to generate 10% of electricity from renewable energy sources. However, they have no success to generate a significant amount of total electricity from renewable energy sources in 2020. Herein, this review represents the present status, prospects, and update information about the renewable and sustainable energy source in Bangladesh. The review also discussed to provide the guideline for the government would successfully end their plan.

Assessment of crop residues-based electricity generation potential for energy security in Bangladesh

About 65.82% of total electricity generation in Bangladesh come from domestic natural gas. Natural gas reserves are expected to deplete and become commercially unviable by 2030 at the current consumption rate, threatening the nation's energy security. Authors in this study investigated surplus crop residues availability and their electricity generation potential in 2018–19 and forecast to 2029–30 for establishing a biomass-based electricity generation system. It was estimated that 35.834 MT surplus crop residues could produce 42.560 TWh electricity, meeting 68.60% electricity demand in 2018–19. Forecast estimate showed that 50.561 TWh electricity generation potential of 42.553 MT surplus crop residues could supply 41.90% of forecasted electricity demand in 2029–30 in Bangladesh. Rangpur division possesses the largest share of crop residues availability and the Barisal Division the least. Results of this study could provide baseline data for establishing biomass-based electricity plants.

Assessment of the Electrical Grid System to Accommodate the First Nuclear Power Plant in Bangladesh

Nuclear energy has been identified as an economical and environmentally clean source of electricity generation in Bangladesh. Nuclear power plants (NPP) are designed to serve as the base-load plant with a lower ramp rate of power change, stringent voltage and frequency margin. Moreover, the nuclear reactor needs a reliable long-term shutdown cooling that consumes huge electricity from the grid under strict voltage and frequency regulations. This paper addresses a modeling approach including the development of a fault-tree model for reliability evaluation of an electric grid system to accommodate an NPP. The analysis of the existing grid system in Bangladesh identified the areas of improvement in which the programs for grid frequency control, modifying governors of the operating plants and reduction of seasonal load variation are the most significant. This study also revealed that the development of a detailed fault tree model is essential to identify the most susceptible elements of the grid system and resources can be allocated accordingly to minimize the risk. The hindrances related to grid development are also discussed in this paper.

Foreign Direct Investments, Renewable Electricity Output, and Ecological Footprints: Do Financial Globalization Facilitate Renewable Energy Transition and Environmental Welfare in Bangladesh?

Phasing out fossil fuel dependency to adopt renewable energy technologies is pertinent for both ensuring energy security and for safeguarding the well-being of the environment. However, financial constraints often restrict the developing countries, in particular, from undergoing the renewable energy transition that is necessary for easing the environmental hardships. Against this background, this study makes a novel attempt to evaluate the impacts of FDI inflows on enhancing renewable energy use and attaining environmental sustainability in Bangladesh between 1972 and 2015. Using the autoregressive distributed lags with structural break approach to estimate the short- and long-run elasticities, it is found that FDI inflows enhance the share of renewable electricity output in the total electricity output levels of the country. Besides, FDI inflows are also evidenced to directly hamper environmental quality by boosting the ecological footprints figures of Bangladesh. Hence, it can be said that FDI promotes renewable electricity generation in Bangladesh but transforms the nation into a pollution haven. However, although FDI inflows cannot directly reduce the ecological footprints, a joint ecological footprint mitigation impact of FDI inflows and renewable electricity generation is evidenced. Besides, the findings also verify the authenticity of the Environmental Kuznets Curve hypothesis in Bangladesh’s context. Therefore, economic growth can be referred to as being both the cause and the panacea to the environmental problems faced by Bangladesh. These results, in a nutshell, calls for effective measures to be undertaken for attracting the relatively cleaner FDI in Bangladesh whereby the objectives of renewable energy transition and environmental sustainability can be achieved in tandem. In line with these findings, several appropriate financial globalization policies are recommended.

Municipal Solid Waste to Energy Generation in Bangladesh: Possible Scenarios to Generate Renewable Electricity in Dhaka and Chittagong City

Increased generation of methane (CH4) from municipal solid wastes (MSW) alarms the world to take proper initiative for the sustainable management of MSW, because it is 34 times stronger than carbon dioxide (CO2). Mounting land scarcity issue around the world brands the waste to energy (WtE) strategy for MSW management in urban areas as a promising option, because WtE not only reduces the land pressure problem, but also generates electricity, heat, and green jobs. The goal of this study is to evaluate the renewable electricity generation potential and associated carbon reduction of MSW management in Bangladesh using WtE strategies. The study is conducted in two major cities of Bangladesh: Dhaka and Chittagong. Six different WtE scenarios are evaluated consisting of mixed MSW incineration and landfill gas (LFG) recovery system. Energy potential of different WtE strategy is assessed using standard energy conversion model and subsequent GHGs emissions models. Scenario A1results in highest economic and energy potential and net negative GHGs emission. Sensitivity analysis by varying MSW moisture content reveals higher energy potential and less GHGs emissions from MSW possessing low moisture content. The study proposes mixed MSW incineration that could be a potential WtE strategy for renewable electricity generation in Bangladesh.

Electricity from Rice Husk: A Potential Way to Electrify Rural Bangladesh

The sustainable economic development of a country stands on the sufficiency of electrical energy. So, to compete with the rest of the world, Bangladesh should have sufficient electricity facilities to carry on its economic development. To make a country a developed one, the facilities of electricity should be reached from door to door. As Bangladesh is an agricultural country, several kinds of agricultural wastes are available here. So, this huge amount of agricultural waste can be a source of electricity generation in Bangladesh. Rice husk is one of the potential agro wastes which can be used as raw material to generate electricity, only if it can be processed properly and systematically. The purpose of this paper is to make available an idea of electricity generation from rice husk in the rural areas of Bangladesh. The rice husk based small & medium power plants are very much useful to generate & supply electricity in the rural areas. In this paper the availability of rice husk in Bangladesh, the different feasibility studies and the main process which can be used to generate electricity from rice husk are discussed. The main purpose of this paper is to assist the journey of Bangladesh towards development. This paper will help both the Govt. & private sector to establish rice husk based power plant in rural areas of Bangladesh. Finally it is hoped that this paper will be a suitable guideline to mitigate the huge demand of electricity in the rural areas of Bangladesh.

Subsidy Policy Instruments for Rapid Growth of Photovoltaic Electricity Generation in Bangladesh

Bangladesh is a developing country which demands power generation for economic growth. But, a wide gap prevails between supply and demand. To resolve the issue, solar energy could be utilized for electricity generation. The aim of the paper is to propose policy and incentives to address economic barriers for grid-tied ground mounted Photovoltaic (PV) power generation. Market based instruments and policy of some countries were reviewed. Interviews were conducted at both private solar firms and government offices in Bangladesh to learn their responses. The outcome shows that most of the solar firms were unsatisfied about the present policy and incentives of the grid-tied PV power generation for Independent Power Producer (IPP). Thus, the worldwide practiced feed-in tariff (FIT) policy could be adopted. In addition, the estimated tariff was calculated slightly above 28.5 to 35 BDT/kWh or higher for financial viability of such project under existing incentives. Incentive schemes were also proposed for successful implementation. The recommendations will help for policy development and sustainable growth of PV electricity generation in Bangladesh.

Assessment of the Potential of Biomass Gasification for Electricity Generation in Bangladesh

Bangladesh is an agriculture based country where more than 65 percent of the people live in rural areas and over 70% of total primary energy consumption is covered by biomass, mainly agricultural waste and wood. Only about 6% of the entire population has access to natural gas, primarily in urban areas. Electricity production in Bangladesh largely depends on fossil fuel whose reserve is now under threat and the government is now focusing on the alternating sources to harness electricity to meet the continuous increasing demand. To reduce the dependency on fossil fuels, biomass to electricity could play a vital role in this regard. This paper explores the biomass based power generation potential of Bangladesh through gasification technology—an efficient thermochemical process for distributed power generation. It has been estimated that the total power generation from the agricultural residue is about 1178 MWe. Among them, the generation potential from rice husk, and bagasses is 1010 MWe, and 50 MWe, respectively. On the other hand, wheat straw, jute stalks, maize residues, lentil straw, and coconut shell are also the promising biomass resources for power generation which counted around 118 MWe. The forest residue and municipal solid waste could also contribute to the total power generation 250 MWe and 100 MWe, respectively.

Agricultural Residue Potential for Electricity Generation in Bangladesh

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.

Potential of Wind and Solar Electricity Generation in Bangladesh

Wind and solar energies are the alternative energy sources that can be used to supplement the conventional energy sources particularly in Bangladesh. In this work, the aim is to assess the current wind and solar energy potential in Bangladesh. The wind data for the five stations obtained from Local Government Engineering Department have been assessed, but only two of them seem to be eligible for energy production. Annual average, monthly average, and hourly average wind speeds and wind power densities were calculated from the wind data. The Weibull distribution parameters (c and k), the dominant wind directions, and the frequency distributions were also determined. Experimentally measured solar radiation data are not available over Bangladesh. Measured climatological data such as cloud cover and sunshine duration data of Bangladesh Meteorological Department from 1992 to 2001 used for the estimation of global solar radiation as they are correlated. Technoeconomic feasibility analysis is done for 100 kW grid connected wind and solar photovoltaic (PV) systems. Renewable-energy-based system will bring more environmental benefits than conventional power in terms of human health, reduction of air pollution, and decrease of noise, and so forth. However, in the above estimation, these were not considered.

The potential of wind electricity generation in Bangladesh

The hourly wind speed data of the coastal station Chittagong have been collected for the years 1978–1981. From the hourly average wind speed, the hourly and monthly energy outputs were computed for three commercial machines (22 kW, 16 kW and 4 kW) having different cut-in wind speed. The 22 kW machine was found to produce higher energy output per m 2 than the other two for our energy regime. The hourly and monthly energy variation of the 22 kW machine was studied and the cost per kWh of energy produced by this machine was obtained. Considering the wind speed distribution of Bangladesh, it appears that a wind machine in combination with a conventional diesel back up system will be economically viable for electricity generation in the off-shore islands but not in inland locations.