Experts working on the power and energy sector of the country demanded to initiation a "No Electricity No Pay" policy for all power plants, which might be able to lessen the fiscal burden of the country.
They also demanded a reduction of all types of import duties for the renewable energy accessories necessary for both utility-scale and household solar power plants until the renewable energy industry operates at a full pace in the country.
Those demands came on the concluding day of three-day-long Bangladesh Energy Prosperity 2050 conference at the BIAM Foundation on Friday.
Capacity payments for idle power plants are one of the main reasons for high electricity costs in Bangladesh. It also increased the expenditure of the power sector exponentially over the past few years.
According to the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), about 41% of the power plant’s capacity was unused last year. In FY23, the government paid over Tk26,000 crore as capacity charges.
Buet Professor Ijaz Hossain questioned why there is no net-zero target for Bangladesh yet, under the current interim government.
“The environment ministry hasn’t declared a net-zero target for Bangladesh yet. This is the reason why renewable energy is not being promoted in the country”, he said.
Answering this point, Syeda Rizwana Hasan, adviser to the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, said in her concluding speech: “Even the promises to reduce carbon emission in our Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) is highly challenging to achieve.”
“We need support from other ministries to come up with an achievable net-zero target”, she said.
“We are still trying to control the damage done by the previous government. We have got a chance to make a change,” Rizwana added.
Iftekharuzzaman, executive director of Transparency International Bangladesh, said: “Integrated Energy Master Plan (IEPMP) should be cancelled. A new power and energy masterplan should be developed and adopted which will be based on the principle of reducing fossil fuel use and increasing renewable energy in the mix.”
He stressed upon bringing transparency and accountability in the power and energy sector, which was absent during the ousted Awami League government.
Zahidul Alam, vice president of the Bangladesh Solar and Renewable Energy Association said: “If the import duties for renewable energy accessories are not reduced, the country will never be able to reach the target of 30% renewable by 2030. “
Hasan Mehedi, member secretary of Bangladesh Working Group on Ecology and Development (BWGED) read out the conference declaration on behalf of almost 400 representatives that attended from different sectors of the society; including policymakers, academics, researchers, think tanks, energy companies, financial institutions, climate and human rights activists, indigenous communities, youths, students, and other affected community members.
The Declaration highlighted the urgent need for thematic areas such as policy coherence, institutional and operational reform, effective financing mechanisms, increased regional and global cooperation, and enhanced social and environmental governance.
The conference was organized by the Bangladesh Working Group on Ecology and Development (BWGED), Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB), Media Resources Development Initiative (MRDI), Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (Bela), Manusher Jonno Foundation (MJF), ActionAid Bangladesh were among other co-organizers.