Power In Bangladesh Research Articles

Study on wave power regarding Bangladesh

Wave Energy is a type of renewable energy that uses the power of waves to generate electricity, and it is the largest estimated global resource form of ocean energy. This study deals with various techniques of wave power and focuses on the present scenario in the world and its potentiality in Bangladesh. The analysis of parameters of wave height, wavelength, and wave period; indicates the bright prospects of wave power in Bangladesh. J. Bangladesh Acad. Sci. 47(1); 23-27: June 2023

Resources Diversification in Bangladesh’s Electricity Generation: A Study on the Role of Renewable Energy Sources

The diversity of resources used to produce power in Bangladesh in 2010-2022 is examined in this research paper. The need for energy has increased dramatically as Bangladesh's economy expands quickly. Natural gas has historically been the primary fuel used in Bangladesh to generate power, although there has been a greater diversification towards renewable energy sources in recent years. The paper examines the country's electrical sector's present level of resource diversity and evaluates the possibility of even more diversification. The study takes a qualitative approach by reviewing secondary data sources. The findings show that the government has made significant strides toward diversifying the country's energy generation, even if natural gas remains the main fuel and electricity generated from natural gas in Bangladesh was 51.05% in the fiscal year 2020–2022. Renewable energy sources, such as solar, wind, and hydropower, have grown in popularity in recent years, and the government has set ambitious goals for their eventual implementation. However, a variety of difficulties, such as inadequate infrastructure, constrained financing, and legislative limitations are impeding the growth of renewable energy. The study report underlines the necessity to diversify Bangladesh's power-producing resources in order to guarantee energy security, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and achieve sustainable development goals. According to our study, the government should improve infrastructure, offer suitable incentives, and resolve regulatory obstacles to foster investment in renewable energy. The results of this paper can direct stakeholders and policymakers in Bangladesh toward a more diverse, long-term, and robust electrical industry.

Chinese Soft Power in Bangladesh: Debt Trap or Shared Interests?

Power and influence are important concepts in world politics. In this process, every country tries to maximize its interests and influence over other countries. The present world order, soft power, plays an important role in influencing others’ policy-making processes in one’s favor to establish a world order. This paper aims to give an overview of Chinese soft power and find out whether Chinese soft power is creating a debt trap or becoming a shared interest for both Bangladesh and China. Based on secondary sources, the paper has found that although Chinese soft power, especially its growing investment in Bangladesh, is a part of establishing its influence, it is a shared interest rather than a debt trap. Different infrastructure development projects are opportunities for Bangladesh, as that will open the door to economic development if Bangladesh can effectively utilize them, although China’s investment can put Bangladesh’s economy under pressure. However, economic and political instability, fragile institutions, growing corruption, leadership crisis, etc. are more harmful to its economy and can lead to an economic crisis.

Assessment of public knowledge, perception, and acceptance of nuclear power in Bangladesh

Public perception plays a crucial role in the successful completion of a nuclear power project. As a newcomer country to nuclear power, there are lots of misconceptions among the Bangladeshi people about nuclear energy. Consequently, it is crucial to minimize all the doubts among mass people and build up their positive outlook toward nuclear power. This demands a comprehensive survey to figure out the public opinion, concerns, false impressions, and knowledge gap regarding nuclear power. In the present study, these issues were addressed by a survey that was responded to by 661 persons for the 24 survey questions. The questions were categorized based on information, knowledge, faith, benefit, awareness, and technology. Feedback and responders' basic demographic and socioeconomic information were collected from various locations in Bangladesh through online and in-person surveys. The responses were analyzed in both statistical and descriptive ways. Some of the feedback was found to vary with age, sex, and education level while others were quite independent of these parameters. It is found that socio-economic development and energy security can be achieved by the inclusion of nuclear energy in the power system master plan of the country. However, huge knowledge gaps and misconceptions were found among the public regarding nuclear energy. As per feedback, political instability and corruption may affect the national nuclear power project in Bangladesh. Low faith in the existing rules & regulations for nuclear power programs was also observed. The result of this study will be handy to develop the communication and public awareness strategy for a successful nuclear power project in Bangladesh.

De-risking private power in Bangladesh: How financing design can stop collusive contracting

Collusive contracting with private power plants in Bangladesh has resulted in high power prices that cost the taxpayer around U$1 billion in subsidies. The main driver of collusive contracting is the unwillingness of politically unconnected firms to engage in a high-risk environment. To attract investment, the government has adopted a targeted risk absorption strategy that negotiates mark-ups with interested firms. We argue that this strategy cannot discover the minimum mark-up that would induce investment. Moreover, because only politically connected investors are likely to be bidding and negotiating, this approach encourages investors to set high mark-ups. An alternative strategy is competitive risk-mitigation that provides contestable subsidies from development finance institutions (DFIs), such as preferential finance and partial risk guarantees. Contestable subsidies work by reducing risks of unconnected investors, encouraging their participation to make collusion more difficult, and constraining mark-ups. To test our hypothesis, we collect a dataset on plant-level DFI support and prices from 58 private power plants in Bangladesh from 2004 to 2017. Our empirical analysis finds that financing instruments with contestable subsidies from DFIs are associated with a 26% reduction in plant-level prices controlling for plant capacity, size, and fuel type.

Waterscapes of power in Bangladesh: The politics and anthropology of contested access in large‐scale irrigation modernisation

AbstractThis paper is drawn from ethnographically informed research undertaken in 2016‒2017 pertaining to the planned modernisation of two large‐scale irrigation schemes in Bangladesh, funded by the Asian Development Bank. The research confirms existing critical irrigation anthropology on the politics and power of large‐scale irrigation modernisation and related drive to privatisation. The modernisation of the scheme aimed to increase water, energy and agricultural productivity and to include a new higher‐level irrigation management service. Irrigation, it is argued, also has considerable social consequences because it defines specific patterns of cooperation and conflict in serviced agricultural areas. The modernisation of the scheme overlooked socio‐cultural, political and ethnoecological considerations largely due to complex institutional constraints and the existing social modalities of power. In the field, using the anthropological method, information was generated in order to better understand the various stakeholder perceptions of the modernisation program and advise on practical implementations. In particular, the research noted how and in what manner dominant and influential social and political alliances control these complex waterscapes.

Assessment of Public Knowledge, Perception and Acceptance of Nuclear Power in Bangladesh

Assessment of Public Knowledge, Perception and Acceptance of Nuclear Power in Bangladesh

Assessment of costs of nuclear power in Bangladesh

Financing and economic risks are two of the major challenges facing by the nuclear industry today for the construction of a new build Gen III+ or an advanced Gen IV nuclear power plant (NPP). Prediction of economics and financial aspects of an NPP always remains uncertain as these are heavily dependent on investment costs, construction time, licensing and regulation, operation and maintenance (O&M) costs, fuel costs, financing costs, plant capacity factor (PCF), etc. Such uncertainty in accurately predicting the risk of financing and economics limits the growth of the nuclear industry. Furthermore, global high-trend construction costs of NPPs lack confidence amongst manufacturers and builders. This paper attempts for modeling the costs of the twin under construction VVER-1200 model Gen III+ reactors at Rooppur in Bangladesh based on techno-economic and financial data, and some assumptions. To calculate the levelized unit electricity cost (LUEC), net present value (NPV), internal rate of return (IRR), and payback period (PBP), nine scenarios are modeled in the FINPLAN modeling tool given the plant technical data, investment costs, financial terms & conditions, global benchmarked operation & maintenance (O&M) costs and fuel costs, PCFs of 50–90%, and a fixed discount rate of 10%. The study finds that the estimations of LUECs of the Rooppur NPP project are in the range of 43.8–82.5 $/MWh of which are lower than for coal, oil, and renewable energy sources. The annual rate of return of the project is found in the range of 13–20%. The PBP is within 7–8 years after the start of commercial operation. Cost sensitivity analysis is performed by taking a large variation of O&M costs, fuel costs, and PCFs. The results show favorable economic situations with regard to the country’s other power sources and are expected to be competitive with global NPPs projects. Only the competitive NPP projects can contribute to a sustainable economic, social, environmental, scientific, and technological developments for both NPP importing and exporting countries.

Themohol: The hidden power structure of Bangladesh local politics

It is a common view that power in Bangladesh is exercised through patron–client forms of exchange. These patron–client relationships are held together by moral proximity and intimacy and are diffused and multidimensional. Most recently, Basu et al. (2018, Politics and Governance in Bangladesh: Uncertain Landscapes, 1–16. London: Routledge) argue for the persuasive presence of patron–client relationships and its role as the informal, ‘real’ structure as opposed to the formal state structure. The portrait, however, leaves us with the image of a vast undifferentiated web where the only node is the one at the centre. This article seeks to temper this portrait by arguing that at a certain point the web is no longer undifferentiated. It has locally real, tangible nodes of substantial power—often referred to as mohol (quarter) in Bangla. These nodes of power are often albeit not invariably centred on the local MP. The existence of these nodes indicates a decentralised power structure, wherein power is located in numerable nodes across the country rather than centralised in Dhaka.

Electrical power crisis solution by the developing renewable energy based power generation expansion

This paper proposes a different hybrid system that considers the intelligible and complex to understand the problem of regulating the expansion of conventional power plants. The current reality is determined on a long-term power generation expansion plan for Bangladesh from 2016 to 2030. The discontent of the framework and weaknesses in the power systems are facing the main problem by the energy crisis. Thus, long-term renewable energy based power generation model and the use of inhabited coal are inspected in the extent of the costs of natural expansion and green impact. The results demonstrate that in 2030 the power generation needed to meet future demand is assessed at 160TWh. The proposed structure includes two steps. In the first step, the assessment of the importance of technology is carried out using a hybrid methodology and benefits from a system of excellent descriptions, starting points, and risk assessments in the second step that will make a multi-objective show to improve our generation’s expansion plans. Two objective capacities are considered in this model. That is, adding weight to the overall placement trend and reducing overall costs. The implementation of renewable power is a great decision to describe the lake of power in Bangladesh because it requires minimal effort and less danger. This activity is essential for developing sustainable power generation in Bangladesh. The numerical model is solved using the NSGA-II algorithm, and the effect analysis is carried out on the key parameters. The results show an expanded offer of constant renewable sources in power generation for ensuring sufficient power supply in Bangladesh.

China’s Soft Power in Bangladesh: A Comparative Studies

China is now carrying the reputation of the world’s fastest economy’s title and creating an international good image in her soft way. China’s way of creating an international image is different from the United States of America. China has its own inclusive way of flourishing. Chinese Yan-Yang philosophy makes China’s cultural inclusiveness and makes it how to balance the paradoxical situation in the international arena. The international system is changing with the passage of time. China is becoming a more influential international actor in world politics and regional power also. China’s reemergence and rejuvenation are not connected with military strategy but with China’s Soft power. China’s South Asia policy is well designed for long term strategy to follow win-win relations and that also visualized a prominent leadership role in the South Asian region. Bangladesh is Geo-politically and strategically a very prominent country. The paper is focusing on the pragmatic theory. The paper talks about Bangladesh’s perspective on China’s soft power, Bangladesh-India and China relation’s paradox which is the most important challenge for Bangladesh. Despite skeptics, the parameter of Bangladesh-China relation is gradually rising high. Soft power exchange is following President Xi Jinping’s ‘Win-Win’ projection for both Bangladesh and China. The paper is about China’s soft power in Bangladesh and mutual relations.

Against all odds: Socio-economic and political factors related to female labor force participation and decision making power in Bangladesh

Gender inequality and discrimination is persistent in different socio-economic and political institutions. Women are mainly treated as second sex, sex objects, reproductive agent and their economic contributions to the family, market and state are largely ignored. These discriminations are transferred through the institution of patriarchy, labor force participation and different national and international programs and policy processes. The rigidity and confinement of women within households is experiencing minimal change. A majority of women continue to experience inequalities in different sectors of the society; both in developed and developing countries. However, in terms of gender inequality, female labor force participation is a major factor. This paper reviewed feminist literatures and author personal experiences working with women particularly marginalized women in many countries. The paper examines the interrelating issues of female labor force participation, patriarchy, differential household structures and development policies as they exist in Bangladesh.

Perspective and Challenge of Tidal Power in Bangladesh

Tidal power can play a vital role in integrating as new source of renewable energy to the off-grid power connection in isolated areas, namely Sandwip, in Bangladesh. It can reduce the present energy crisis and improve the social, environmental and economical perspective of Bangladesh. Tidal energy is becoming popular around the world due to its own facilities. The development of any country largely depends on energy sector improvement. Lack of energy sector is because hampering of progress of any country development and energy sector will be stable by only depend on sustainable energy sources. Renewable energy is the only sustainable solution of secure energy which is environmental friendly. Bangladesh has a huge potential of tidal power at different locations but effective measure on this issue have not been considered sincerely. This paper summarizes the current energy scenario and Bangladesh can produce power approximately 53.19MW across the country to reduce the growing energy demand utilizing tidal energy as well as it is shown that Sandwip has high potential of producing tidal power which is approximately 16.49MW by investing only US $10.37 millions. Besides this, cost management for tidal power plant also has been discussed.

Perspective and Challenge of Tidal Power in Bangladesh

Perspective and Challenge of Tidal Power in Bangladesh

Perspective and Challenge of Tidal Power in Bangladesh

Perspective and Challenge of Tidal Power in Bangladesh

Perspective and Challenge of Tidal Power in Bangladesh

Perspective and Challenge of Tidal Power in Bangladesh

Hartal as a complex political performance: General strikes and the organisation of (local) power in Bangladesh

Hartal, the general strike or total shutdown, is one of the defining features of politics in Bangladesh. While opposition parties proclaim it is one of their only weapons to put pressure on the ruling party, Bangladeshi middle classes and the international (donor) community view hartal as essentially disruptive. Focusing on the local organisation of hartal at the ward level, this article argues that hartal plays a crucial role in the organisation of the local power structure in Bangladesh. By considering hartal as a complex political performance, we are able to show that hartals offer unique opportunities for local party organisers to show, maintain and improve their position in the local power structure. Addressing a multi-levelled audience, it enables them to gain access to beneficial patronage relationships with the party (leadership) at the local, regional and national levels. The willingness to take risk and the ability to recruit hartal participants offers important markers to establish and improve these relationships. As such, efforts to move away from hartal to ‘less disruptive’ forms of protest are misguided.

National Discourses on Women's Empowerment in Bangladesh: Enabling or constraining women's choices?

Sohela Nazneen, Maheen Sultan and Naomi Hossain explore concepts of empowerment being used by some women's organizations, development NGOs, mass political parties and aid donors in Bangladesh. Focusing primarily on public discourses, they review publicly available documentation of women's organizations, development NGOs, mass political parties and aid donors. They discuss the implications of using empowerment by these different actors and conclude with reflections on new forms of public action and coalitions of interest to advance women's power in Bangladesh.

Audit Pricing, Audit Concentration, and Big-4 Premium in Bangladesh

This paper reports the findings of a comprehensive study of the audit services market of an emerging market economy, namely, Bangladesh. It covers four important aspects of auditing in the country. They are (i) audit concentration; (ii) audit fee trends; (iii) big-four premium; and (iv) audit pricing. Using both conventional and innovative measures of audit concentration, it shows that unlike the market structures commonly found in most developed and many developing country settings, the big-four affiliated audit firms (equivalent to the big-four in countries where big-four firms operate in their own names) do not enjoy significant market power in Bangladesh. They are responsible for auditing only 16.4 percent of listed companies. Their market share ranges from 17.6 percent to 56.1 percent depending on the measure of market share used. This lack of dominant market power might have inhibited their ability to charge fee premia as reflected in their average audit fee standardized by client size. The second issue examined in this paper is the trends in audit fees. The paper reports that while audit fee is apparently increasing in absolute terms, it is indeed declining in relation to growth in client size (i.e., value audited) and also in terms of the purchasing power of the local currency. The third issue analyzed in this paper is whether the big-four affiliated firms in Bangladesh charge any fee premia from their audit clients. Interestingly, although the big-four affiliated firms appear to receive higher average audit fees per client, an in-depth look at their audit fee levels reveals that they actually receive lower average audit fees per unit of client sales or client assets. However, when audit fees are standardized for natural logs of client sales and assets, big-four audit fees are found to be marginally higher than those charged by their non-big counterparts. Finally, the paper revisits audit fee models developed on emerging market economies by Simon et al (1986), Karim and Moizer (1996), Simon (1997) and Ahmed and Goyal (2005) etc.

The Changing Bilateral Contours of Indo-Bangladesh Relations

The Sheikh Hasina led Awami League government came to power in Bangladesh in January 2009. This paper attempts to capture two contrasting phases in the bilateral context in the last decade despite the issues remaining more or less the same. In view of the several outstanding issues that exist between India and Bangladesh the positions adopted by Bangladesh's two main political parties — Awami League and Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) — have changed the contours of the bilateral relations between the two South Asian neighbours. Over the years, bilateral issues have remained unchanged although a new dimension was added in the last decade. Irrespective of the political party in power in Bangladesh, India's policies vis-à-vis its neighbouring country have not altered significantly. Bangladesh, however, has approached India rather differently wherein its two main political parties adopted significantly different policies. The differences these parties had in their domestic agenda also spilled over to the bilateral relations. However, it now appears that both India and Bangladesh have shown keenness to make optimum use of the opportunity to progress towards forging strong and friendly ties.