Renewable energy in Bangladesh refers to the use of renewable energy to generate electricity in

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

. The current renewable energy comes from biogas that is originated from biomass,

hydro power Hydropower (from el, ὕδωρ, "water"), also known as water power, is the use of falling or fast-running water to produce electricity or to power machines. This is achieved by converting the gravitational potential or kinetic energy of a w ...

, solar and

wind Wind is the natural movement of air or other gases relative to a planet's surface. Winds occur on a range of scales, from thunderstorm flows lasting tens of minutes, to local breezes generated by heating of land surfaces and lasting a few ho ...

Solar power

Bangladesh GHI mid-size-map 156x220mm-300dpi v20191015

The long term average sunshine data indicates that the period of bright sunshine hours in the coastal regions of Bangladesh varies from 3 to 11 hours daily. The insolation in Bangladesh varies from 3.8 kWh/m²/day to 6.4 kWh/m²/day at an average of 5 kWh/m²/day. These indicate that there are good prospects for

solar thermal Solar thermal energy (STE) is a form of energy and a technology for harnessing solar energy to generate thermal energy for use in industry, and in the residential and commercial sectors. Solar thermal collectors are classified by the United S ...

and photovoltaic application in the country. With an estimated 40% of the population in Bangladesh having no access to electricity, the government introduced a scheme known as solar home systems (SHS) to provide electricity to households with no grid access. The program reached 3 million households as of late 2014 and, with more than 50,000 systems being added per month since 2009, the World Bank has called it "the fastest growing solar home system program in the world." The Bangladeshi government is working towards universal electricity access by 2021 with the SHS program projected to cover 6 million households by 2017.

Wind power

The long term wind flow, especially in the islands and the southern coastal belt of Bangladesh indicate that the average

wind speed In meteorology, wind speed, or wind flow speed, is a fundamental atmospheric quantity caused by air moving from high to low pressure, usually due to changes in temperature. Wind speed is now commonly measured with an anemometer. Wind speed ...

remains between 3 and 4.5 m/s for the months of March to September and 1.7 to 2.3 for the remaining period of the year. There is a good opportunity in island and coastal areas for the application of

wind mill A windmill is a structure that converts wind power into rotational energy using vanes called sails or blades, specifically to mill grain (gristmills), but the term is also extended to windpumps, wind turbines, and other applications, in some par ...

s for pumping and electrification. But during the summer and monsoon seasons (March to October) there can be very low-pressure areas and storm wind speeds 200 to 300 km/h can be expected.

Wind turbine A wind turbine is a device that converts the kinetic energy of wind into electrical energy. Hundreds of thousands of large turbines, in installations known as wind farms, now generate over 650 gigawatts of power, with 60 GW added each yea ...

s have to be strong enough to withstand these high wind speeds.

Tidal power

The tides at Chittagong Division are predominantly semidiurnal with a large variation in range corresponding to the seasons, the maximum occurring during the south-west monsoon. In 1984, an attempt was made by mechanical engineering department of

KUET Khulna University of Engineering & Technology ( bn, খুলনা প্রকৌশল ও প্রযুক্তি বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়, ) commonly known as KUET (; bn, কুয়েট), formerly BIT, Khulna, is a ...

to assess the feasibility of

tidal energy Tidal power or tidal energy is harnessed by converting energy from tides into useful forms of power, mainly electricity using various methods. Although not yet widely used, tidal energy has the potential for future electricity generation. Ti ...

in the coastal regions of Bangladesh, especially at Cox's Bazar and at the islands of Maheshkhali and Kutubdia. The average

tidal range Tidal range is the difference in height between high tide and low tide. Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by gravitational forces exerted by the Moon and Sun and the rotation of Earth. Tidal range depends on time and location. ...

was found within 4-5 meter and the

amplitude The amplitude of a periodic variable is a measure of its change in a single period (such as time or spatial period). The amplitude of a non-periodic signal is its magnitude compared with a reference value. There are various definitions of am ...

of the

spring tide Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the Moon (and to a much lesser extent, the Sun) and are also caused by the Earth and Moon orbiting one another. Tide tables ca ...

exceeds even 6 meter. From different calculations, it is anticipated that there are a number of suitable sites at Cox's Bazar, Maheshkhali, Kutubdia and other places where permanent basins with pumping arrangements might be constructed which would be a double operation scheme.

Waste to electric energy

In order to save the large cities from environmental pollution, the

waste management Waste management or waste disposal includes the processes and actions required to manage waste from its inception to its final disposal. This includes the collection, transport, treatment and disposal of waste, together with monitorin ...

as well as

electricity generation Electricity generation is the process of generating electric power from sources of primary energy. For utilities in the electric power industry, it is the stage prior to its delivery ( transmission, distribution, etc.) to end users or its s ...

from the solid wastes programme is being taken by the government.

Biogas

There mainly two types of

biogas plant Biogas is a mixture of gases, primarily consisting of methane, carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulphide, produced from raw materials such as agricultural waste, manure, municipal waste, plant material, sewage, green waste and food waste. It is a ...

s used in Bangladesh, floating dome type and fixed dome type. Bag type plants are also used in the country but rarely.

Geothermal energy

Geothermal potential of Bangladesh is yet to be determined. Different studies carried out by geologists have suggested possible geothermal resources in the northwest and southeast region.D.K. Guha, H. Henkel, and B. Imam, “Geothermal potential in Bangladesh - results from investigations of abandoned deep wells,” Proceedings of the World Geothermal Congress 2010, Bali, Indonesia, April 2010. Among the studied areas of northwest region, Singra-Kuchma-Bogra area, Barapukuria coal basin area, and the Madhyapara hard rock mine area − with temperature gradient above 30 °C/km and bottom hole temperature in excess of 100 °C− meet the requirements of binary cycle power plants. But to reach a foregone conclusion on exploiting the resource in a viable, feasible and economically profitable way, extensive research is required. In 2011, Anglo MGH Energy, a Dhaka-based private company announced the construction of 200 MW geothermal plant, first ever of such kind, in Thakurgaon district. But for some unknown reasons, this project never commenced, and no development in this field has been announced afterwards.

The benefits of renewable energy in Bangladesh

Expanding capacity in the electricity sector can be achieved cost-effectively through clean energy options (renewables and energy efficiency), which not only reduce

greenhouse gas emissions Greenhouse gas emissions from human activities strengthen the greenhouse effect, contributing to climate change. Most is carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels: coal, oil, and natural gas. The largest emitters include coal in China and ...

, but also increase jobs and improve human health by reducing air pollution. According to a report from the

Low Emission Development Strategies Global Partnership (LEDS GP) The Low Emissions Development Strategies Global Partnership (LEDS GP) aims to advance climate-resilient low emission development and support transitions to a low-carbon economy through coordination, information exchange and cooperation among countri ...

and based on detailed modelling analysis, the benefits of increasing clean energy in Bangladesh's power generation mix relative to ‘business-as-usual’ could generate the following cumulative results by 2030: *reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 20% *generate domestic employment of up to 55,000 full-time equivalent jobs * Potential to produce additional electricity of 30 GW from the utilisation of solar PV and 53 gigawatt (GW) of electricity potential from all solar sources. *save up to 27,000 lives, and over US$5 billion (BDT 420 billion).

References

External links

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