The Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) on Thursday laid emphasis on integrating regional Renewable Energy (RE) trade into the national plan to stabilise the grid and lower costs.
The think tank made the observation at a press briefing on “Energy & Power Sector Master Plan (EPSMP): 2026-2050” at its office in the city.
Research Director of CPD Dr Khondaker Golam Moazzem; Research Associates Md Mehadi Hasan Shamim, Abrar Ahammed Bhuiyan, Atikuzzaman Shazeed, and Sabiha Sharmin; and Programme Associates Maleehah Sabah Ali, and Md Khalid Mahmud, among others, were present on the occasion.
Helen Mashiyat Preoty, senior research associate, delivered the presentation at the briefing.
In her presentation, Helen Mashiyat Preoty said that the zone wise power demand and supply should be planned according to the upcoming RE power plants and National Solar Rooftop Programme.
“As there are already plans to intergrade more than 5000 MW of RE from utility scale and more than 3000 MW from national rooftop programme, the location wise planning and estimation must be done by the zonal mapping,” she added.
She also urged the government to give more focus on the areas where solar and wind electricity potential is higher in the country.
She said that allowing carbon credit without any extensive scrutiny might backfire energy transition and normalising carbon credit at this stage can unintentionally legitimise emission.
“Hence a detailed review and scrutiny before establishing a framework might be needed,” she added.
She noted that a monitoring and evaluation framework is needed to measure the implementation progress of the EPSMP in achieving energy transition.
She recommended institutional reform of the Power Grid Company of Bangladesh (PGCB) to ensure independent and efficient system planning.
She laid emphasis on allocating a big chunk of investment specifically for RE expansion and domestic gas exploration (onshore and offshore) instead of LNG.
Mashiyat Preoty also focused on unbundling the roles of the Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) and strengthening the autonomy and enforcement powers of the BERC and SREDA.
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