In line with a 2023 report printed by BloombergNEF, the price of solar energy technology from utility-scale tasks in Bangladesh now stands at US$97-135 per megawatt hour (MWh), making it a reputable competitor to coal or gas-based energy that price US$110-150/MWh and US$88-116/MWh respectively.
By 2025, solar energy will change into the most cost-effective power supply for the nation, the report mentioned.
Chowdhury mentioned just lately authorized impartial photo voltaic photovoltaic (PV) tasks have a tariff of lower than 10 US cents per unit of energy, whereas one unit of liquid fuel-based electrical energy in Bangladesh prices greater than 16 US cents.
The financial benefit of transitioning to solar energy is changing into more and more evident to companies and the federal government.
Final month, a report from the Institute for Vitality Economics and Monetary Evaluation (IEEFA) confirmed that the Bangladesh authorities may save between Tk 52.3 billion (US$476 million) and Tk 110.32 billion (US$1 billion) a 12 months if industries, industrial buildings and different institutions put in 2,000 MW of rooftop photo voltaic, past the 161 MW thus far put in.
The financial savings would come from not having to import costly fuels like furnace oil and diesel to generate energy.
Shafiqul Alam, lead power analyst for the IEEFA, mentioned that by putting in a rooftop photo voltaic system, an industrial enterprise may save round Tk 5 per kilowatt hour of electrical energy throughout the day, and the speed of financial savings can be much more for industrial buildings that pay increased tariffs for grid energy.
One key drawback is an absence of dependable and rigorous estimates for a way a lot solar energy may be generated in Bangladesh.
“A real evaluation of the nation’s rooftop photo voltaic potential is crucial to know the funding wanted within the sector,” mentioned Alam.
That may ship the proper alerts to monetary establishments, whereas the federal government and photo voltaic builders would be capable of plan for the transition with extra certainty, he added.
Potential jobs growth
A big enlargement of solar energy may imply 1000’s of recent inexperienced jobs for engineers, technicians, undertaking managers and handbook staff.
A 1 MW photo voltaic undertaking can produce 26.6 jobs within the residential sector, 10.1 jobs for industrial tasks, and a pair of.1 jobs for utility-scale solar energy, mentioned Chowdhury from UIU.
A examine by the Dhaka-based Centre for Coverage Dialogue final 12 months estimated that renewable power may add about 13,800 jobs by 2030 – and if Bangladesh pursued a extremely aggressive power transition, greater than 37,000 new jobs may very well be created.
Expert individuals – like engineers and technicians with a couple of years of expertise – at the moment are in excessive demand as giant corporations transfer to spend money on inexperienced power.
“Earlier we must search for job alternatives, and now corporations and headhunting corporations attain out to us,” mentioned SM Imran Hasan, an skilled engineer working as a photo voltaic undertaking supervisor on the Al-Mostafa Group.
There has additionally been a shift in the kind of jobs, with rising demand for increased technical expertise to match evolving expertise.
A decade in the past, the primary pivot of solar energy progress in Bangladesh was small-scale photo voltaic dwelling methods that may very well be put in and repaired by low-skilled staff. However most of those are being phased out as bigger photo voltaic tasks are added to the increasing nationwide grid.
Consultants mentioned many low-skilled jobs in photo voltaic dwelling methods had been shed, however new higher-quality jobs will surpass the losses.
Photo voltaic undertaking supervisor Abdul Arif mentioned Grameen Shakti, the clear power social enterprise the place he works, employed as many as 15,000 individuals in photo voltaic dwelling methods only a decade in the past.
However many at the moment are working as entrepreneurs or service suppliers as the agricultural economic system enjoys higher electrical energy provides due to rooftop photo voltaic panels, mini-grids and electrical mobility, he added.
Extra superior expertise sought
Chowdhury from UIU mentioned the set up of large-scale photo voltaic PV tasks requires staff with extra superior engineering and technical expertise, whereas low-skilled staff may be recruited for upkeep and safety of the photo voltaic crops.
“In the end, the overall employment on this trade will improve and might exceed the earlier ranges as (it) grows,” he mentioned.
The talents shift requires higher coaching of staff and technicians, trade consultants mentioned.
Nuher L. Khan, managing director of Joules Energy Restricted, a number one photo voltaic power firm in Bangladesh, mentioned recruiters are aiming to assist younger staff to accumulate the proper expertise and orientation.
“We attempt to recruit recent graduates in order that engineering and enterprise college students take a look at the renewables sector as a potential sector the place they’ll construct their profession,” he mentioned.
The rising demand for expert labour might also open a door for younger ladies like Isha with related technical {qualifications} in a sector that has thus far provided them fewer alternatives.
Isha mentioned her office SOLshare – which has an all-female manufacturing crew – is setting an instance by exhibiting that ladies with the proper expertise can shine within the photo voltaic sector.
She mentors her feminine co-workers to tackle extra technical challenges, which is slowly bearing good outcomes.
“As of late ladies are additionally exhibiting curiosity in tech-based work, together with the heavy work of growing expertise,” she mentioned.
This story was printed with permission from Thomson Reuters Basis, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian information, local weather change, resilience, ladies’s rights, trafficking and property rights. Go to https://www.context.information/.
