State-owned West Zone Power Distribution Company Ltd (WZPDCL) has decided to set up a 10MW solar power plant at Monpura Island in Bhola by next year.
“We are going to install the plant as part of our renewable energy programme. It will also reduce the cost of electricity generation at Monpura,” WZPDCL Managing Director Md Shafique Uddin told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.
Currently, around 600 consumers are benefited by a generator-based power plant run by the WZPDCL. “Upon completion of the solar plant, we will be able to fulfil the demands of 80,000 families,” he hoped.
He said that cost of electricity per unit is Tk35 at the fuel oil-based plant and they were selling it at Tk3.5. The cost would come down to Tk13-14 if the solar plant is established.
There is no alternative option to supply electricity to Monpura as it is an off-grid area.
Shafique said that the Monpura plant – to be set up on 12 hectare land – would be run as an independent power producer (IPP). The construction company would bear the costs under build-own-and-operate (BOO) basis and provide power to the local people. The WZPDCL would pay the bill as the lone buyer.
“We have already approved the plan, and are now preparing a DPP to set up the new solar plant,” he added.
The WZPDCL covers 21 districts including Barisal and Khulna City in the south-western region.
The country’s current renewable power generation capacity is 411MW whereas the government has planned to generate 1,740MW electricity from solar plants by 2021.
The government is currently working to install solar panel-based power projects having 152MW production capacity and connect those to the national grid.
The projects are Dhorola 30MW Solar Park in Kurigram, Rangunia 60MW in Chittagong, Sarishabari 3MW in Jamalpur, Irshadi 2MW in Pabna, Aricha 1.5MW in Manikganj, Sirajganj 1MW and Gongachara 55MW in Rangpur.
The government earlier awarded contracts to set up two solar-based power plants at Dhorola and Sharishabari. Contractors of the projects – ETERN-HAREON Consortium and IFE-CPC-JEL Consortium – will implement the projects having the capacity of 30MW and 3MW.
On October 1, the Cabinet Committee on Public Purchase approved a proposal for setting up a 200MW solar park in Teknaf of Cox’s Bazar, the largest in the country, on a build-own-operate (BOO). It will be implemented by SunEdision Energy Holding (Singapore) Pte Ltd.