The GIZ and the IFC have jointly launched the Lighting Asia-Bangladesh programme with the aim of bringing electricity to 2.5 million off-grid people through solar appliances.
The programme is designed as a series of interventions to alter market behaviour, reach the off-grid people, and displace at least 76,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide by the end of 2017.
Lighting Asia-Bangladesh, a market-transforming collaborative initiative of Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, on behalf of the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), and International Finance Corporation (IFC), was launched at a ceremony at a hotel in the capital city yesterday.
Addressing the programme, State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid said the country was facing an acute shortage of energy and was not able to meet the growing demand in households as well as industrial and power sectors.
“I hope the Lighting Asia-Bangladesh initiative will address the problem by changing the use of fossil fuels with quality Pico PV solar lighting devices and other appliances,” he said.
Hamid said the country had made significant progress in promoting solar energy through the countrywide solar home system programme promoted by the Infrastructure Development Company Limited (Idcol) and other solar energy-related endeavours. He said the government would celebrate its achievement in successfully installing three million solar home systems in the country under the Idcol initiative on November 5.
Lighting Asia-Bangladesh seeks to arrange lighting for poor people by catalysing the Pico PV system market in the country.
Pico PV solar lighting appliances are characterised by the portability of the device with the battery in the same casing as the luminaries which are usually light emitting diodes.
The typical wattage of Pico PV systems can range from 0.25 watt peak to 10 watt peak or more.
The objective of the initiative is to promote off-grid solar lighting sources in areas of the country that are not served by the national electricity grid.
“The strategy is to encourage people to switch from traditional light sources like candles and kerosene lamps to environment-friendly, energy-efficient, cost-effective, healthier and safer options like solar lanterns,” Country Director of GIZ Bangladesh Tobias Becker said at the programme.
“The GIZ and the IFC will also work together to support companies that provide such off-grid lighting solutions to enter the Bangladeshi market,” he added.
Nearly 70 million people in the country do not have access to grid electricity while another 60 million have unreliable grid connections.
Operations Advisor of World Bank Bangladesh Christine Kimes and Mohinder Gulati, chief operating officer of Sustainable Energy for All Initiative also addressed the programme.