A total of 1,141,000 people are expected to benefit from a significant improvement in the quality of electricity service by the first-ever smart grid project.
The “Power Factor Improvement and Smart Grid under Dhaka Power Development Company (DPDC)” is a blended finance project where an EU grant is combined with a soft loan from the French development agency, AFD, for a total of €112 million.
The project is organizing seminars for university and school students, allowing them to learn, acquire, retain, and apply knowledge and skills, and to get them into this revolutionary journey to make the country, and its power system, smarter.
Such a seminar was held at the United International University (UIU) with the motto "Exploring Smart Grid: Shaping the Future of Sustainable Energy" on Sunday.
This event was facilitated by the implementing partner and official consultant organization NKSoft Corporation, US.
Prof Dr Hasan Sarwar, dean of the School of Science and Engineering of the UIU, chaired the event.
Engineer Bikash Dewan, managing director, Dhaka Power Distribution Company Limited (DPDC) was present as a special guest.
The EU was represented by its energy Team, namely Enrico Lorenzon, first secretary and team leader, and Chiara Vidussi, attaché and project manager.
Lorenzon addressed the audience to underline the relevance of this project as a first stepping stone towards a greener, more efficient, and reliable power system in Bangladesh.
Thibaut Hamm, project officer of AFD, also highlighted the importance of modernizing the grid and involving the young generations, which represent the future of this country, to tackle Bangladesh’s challenges of the future.
DPDC is planning to conduct a comprehensive communication campaign focused on the smart grid, and targeting six universities and schools.
Smart grids are more reliable, resilient, and thus can eliminate the pollution caused by diesel generators that are used as backups during grid outages.
It helps fight climate change by preventing an accumulated 104,000 tons of CO2 emissions per year, said a statement following an awareness-raising seminar among the university students.
Through this project, AFD and the EU are reinforcing their role in supporting the government in the development and rollout of advanced digital solutions in distribution stations and medium-voltage grids.
The goal is to equip existing infrastructure with these new, innovative and reliable technologies with a view to ensuring services are fit for the country’s future.
A core aspect of Bangladesh’s economic development strategy is represented by an improved performance of the power sector in terms of generation, transmission, and distribution.
The smart grid in Bangladesh is in its initial phases, and it mainly consists of deploying smart meters.
This innovative tool makes it possible, among others, to carry out maintenance upstream of failures and to optimize the use of equipment -- power transformers, circuit breakers, etc.
Real-time algorithms will continuously analyze the hardware connected to the grid and thus extend its life. The digital presence at all levels of the network allows for better knowledge of the network itself and anticipation of outage-related events.
