Solar power plant planned in Sirajganj

The company has already sent a development project proposal (DPP) to the executive committee of the national economic council (ECNEC) for approval. It has also selected a contractor, Power Point Korea, through a tender process for the construction of the plant. NWPGCL invited tenders for the project on December 17, 2015. “We have sought approval from the Planning Ministry for the proposed project. Soon after getting approval, we will start construction work on the plant,” NWPGCL Managing Director AM Khurshedul Alam told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday. “We have undertaken the project to install a photovoltaic (PV) power plant at Syedabad in Sirajganj as part of our renewable energy programme,” he said. “We have a lot of barren land beside the Jamuna River at Syedabad. These lands will be used to set up the PV solar power plant,” he added. The Sirajganj plant will be set up on 23.75 acres of land that would cost around Tk1.25 billion (US$16.02 million). The government has set a target of 3,490MW production that will be implemented by NWPGCL under the master plan. Out of 3,490 MW, 100MW will be based on renewable energy source. The contractor will build the proposed power plant by June 2018. With increased awareness of the adverse effects of global warming due to greenhouse gas emissions, efforts have been made all over the world to curb emission by increasing energy generation from renewable energy resources, Khurshedul said. Currently, NWPGCL is the owner of two combined cycle dual-fuel power plants - Sirajganj 225MW and Khulna 225MW. The company is working to set up a 360MW gas-based combined cycle plant in Bheramara, another 400MW capacity unit-4 of a dual-fuel plant at Sirajganj through joint venture with a Singaporean company and a 1320MW coal-based power plant at Payra through a JV with China. The government earlier awarded contracts to set up two solar-based plants in Dhorola and Sharishabari. Contractors of the projects – ETERN-HAREON Consortium and IFE-CPC-JEL Consortium – will implement the projects, which will have the capacity of 30MW and 3MW. On October 1 last year, the Cabinet Committee on Public Purchase approved a proposal for setting up a 200MW solar park in Teknaf on a build-own-operate basis. It will be implemented by SunEdision Energy Holding (Singapore) Pte Ltd.