The country was celebrating its hundred percent electrification in mid-March last year. This remarkable feat was achieved through an investment of more than $28 billion in power generation since 2009. Little did Bangladesh imagine how the Ukraine war and subsequent sanctions by the USA on Russian oil would crumble that achievement.

Bangladesh is set to resume importing liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the spot market as it has sought a cargo for the first time in eight months, reports Bloomberg.The state-run Rupantarita Prakritik Gas Company Limited, also a company of the Bangladesh Oil, Gas and Mineral Resources Corporation (Petrobangla), is seeking to purchase a cargo on delivered ex-ship (DES) basis for 21-22 February delivery. The term DES requires a seller to deliver goods to a buyer at an agreed port of arrival.

The country is lagging far behind in adoption of renewable energy. Bangladesh targets 40 per cent power generation from clean energy by 2041. Why is it going so slow, especially when the country is suffering from myriad problems? The Power Development Board is failing to pay the bills to the power plants for its purchase of electricity. Now it plans to raise the power price once again.

Industrialists said the gas tariff hike could harm Bangladesh’s business competitiveness. While some were willing to pay more for an uninterrupted gas supply, they did not expect this massive hike, something the industries would not be able to bear

The government has recently raised the electricity price for consumers by five percent on average, bypassing the procedures of the Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC). Not only that, the State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid said that, from now on, electricity prices will be “adjusted” in the first week of every month by executive order.

The government yesterday raised the retail price of gas by 14.5 percent to 178.9 percent for industries, power plants and commercial establishments, who together account for 78 percent of gas use in Bangladesh, as it looks to lessen its unsustainable subsidy burden amid a narrow fiscal space.

The final Integrated Energy and Power Master Plan (IEPMP), prepared by the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources (MPEMR), is coming out in March this year – at a time when the sector may still be going through a short to medium-term crisis. However, even if the crisis is not long lived, the strategy should still go beyond to tackle problems in the medium and long run.

In December, there was some improvement in the supply of gas to industries, but after a month the crisis has come to the surface again. As a result, in addition to the disruption of production, the cost of running factories with alternative energy has increased. Amid such a situation, the government’s move to increase gas prices once again has made entrepreneurs worried.

As part of the long-term master plan for the power sector, the government has been working to implement the plan in phases to generate 40 percent electricity from clean energy by 2041. “Plan has been taken to generate 40 percent power from the clean energy by 2041 and import about 9,000MW under the regional and sub-regional cooperation from neighboring countries,” State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid told on Tuesday.

Business leaders on Saturday said that the latest price hike of electricity would put a negative impact on industry and livelihood of people as Bangladesh’s economy was experiencing unprecedented challenges. They said that the price hike of power would also erode the competitiveness of export sector on the global market. The businesses also said that instead of increasing power price, the government should manage the situation through increasing efficiency of the power sector and reducing system loss.

Bangladesh is making hefty penalty payments in dollar as demurrage for payment delays against LNG import and less-than-agreed re-gasification of the liquid gas in two offshore units under private sector, sources said. Long-term suppliers of the liquefied natural gas (LNG) are bagging around US$160-200 million while floating, storage, re-gasification units (FSRU) owners getting US$7.80 million as extras every month, they said, at a time when the country exercises austerity for forex crunch.

The current global energy crisis has reinforced the need to shift toward renewable and sustainable energy to reduce the climate impacts of fossil energy sources. Furthermore, states are limiting the extraction and consumption of natural resources, including fossil fuels, placing additional pressure on the need for renewable and sustainable sources. This is particularly important for the power sector.

Bangladesh suffered a massive grid failure in October plunging large parts of the country into blackouts. The intermittent supply has hurt production in the export-oriented textile industry, hurting its foreign exchange earnings. New Delhi based think-tank Observer Research Foundation’s Junior Fellow Aditya Gowdara Shivamurthy, in a note last month, said that the crisis threatens to push Bangladesh into a cycle where it is unable to secure enough energy imports due to a shortage of foreign reserves which can have long-standing strategic implications with its energy partners.

Power sector mega projects are producing a hefty debt bill of $2 billion annually for Bangladesh, including interest, further worsening the ongoing dollar crisis. Of the $2 billion debt, $1.5 billion is due in principle and interest in the public sector, while the remainder is in the private sector, according to Power Development Board officials. Energy experts noted that the power sector’s liabilities are set to mount over the next few years with massive power generation projects, many of them based on liquefied natural gas, coming into operation.

The ongoing global energy crisis, dubbed the worst ever, has burst the country’s energy security bubble in 2022, exposing its energy and power sector shortcomings that were swept under the rug by the government, according to energy experts and think tanks. Energy experts also said that the government would not have accepted the mistakes it made in aggressively expanding power generation capacity on fossil fuel import had the energy crisis not struck, engendering a severe inflation and economic crisis. 

The national economy of Bangladesh is already in tension with the dollar crisis, inflation, continuous devaluation of the taka against the dollar, downflow of remittance etc. Another significant spike in oil prices will hit Bangladesh’s energy sector hard. Bangladesh’s power generation largely depends on imported oil and gas. Both commodities saw dramatic spikes in prices in the international market since halfway through 2022. Since then, Bangladesh has struggled to balance imports, leading to a crisis in the power sector. Even a planned load-shedding of around 2 thousand megawatts/day hasn’t been enough to tackle the situation.

Over reliance on the gross domestic product for power demand estimation in the proposed Integrated Power and Energy Master Plan (IEPMP) will again increase the excess reserve capacity ratio, adding a financial burden on the power sector. The observation was made in the media briefing on Thursday dubbed “Draft Integrated Power and Energy Master Plan (IEPMP): Can it Achieve Clean Energy Targets?”

Despite the government’s commitment in the national plan to increase production of renewable energy, an investment proposal to produce 1,000 megawatts of solar power is waiting for approval at a time when the country is facing persistent power-cuts.

The government will be able to save over $16 billion worth of resources (fossil fuel) and subsidies between 2023 and 2025 with investments in and implementation of renewable energy solutions (solar-based irrigation facilities and rooftops), according to estimates by the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD). The think-tank came up with a short to medium-term energy mix scenario from a clean energy perspective and lauded the government’s move to completely phase out diesel-based power plants and gradually shut down furnace oil-based power plants. It, however, did not specify how much investment is required to get dividends from the energy transformation. 

Bangladesh, along with the rest of the world, has come to a point where full transition to the use of green energy is one of the only options left to tackle global warming and impacts of climate change. Corruption-free green energy can also be an alternative to oil and gas imports – especially in the face of the global energy crisis. As per the National Solar Energy Roadmap 2021-41, Bangladesh can produce 20,000 megawatts (MW) of green electricity by 2041 with a medium-scale solar electrification strategy – despite land scarcity.

Even as the global gas crisis upends the liquefied natural gas (LNG) trade, Asia is still positioned to build the majority of new terminals to import LNG, according to a recent Global Energy Monitor (GEM) survey. Bangladesh stands among the top ten Asian countries, proposing USD 2.6 billion cost estimation for LNG import capacity. 

The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) is fast-tracking support for a gas-fired power plant in Bangladesh after determining that the project complies with the Paris Agreement. Bangladesh is now increasingly depending on LNG to meet its energy needs as native gas resources are being depleted. Attempts are being made to move away from coal and phase out polluting diesel plants, and there is a dearth of renewable energy potential.

Bangladesh might be in need of spending up to $37.2 billion for achieving the renewable energy goal set for 2041 in case of moderate growth in installed power generation capacity, according to a new study. The installed capacity would stand at 60,000MW in 2041 if there is moderate electricity generation growth, the study made a prediction, assuming that 40 per cent of the capacity or 15,000MW would be based on renewable energy as per the government goal.

The rapid installation of 2,000 megawatts (MW) of rooftop solar systems in Bangladesh could reduce 15 million tonnes of CO2 through 2023-30 and contribute to achieving the country’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). To help boost rooftop solar adoption, the government must ensure the quality of solar-related accessories and waive import duty on inverters. Stakeholders also need updated information and a simpler loan disbursement process.

The final draft of the Renewable Energy Policy, now under consideration of the authorities concerned, is likely to extensively revise the earlier policy towards reducing reliance on imported fossil fuel on the one hand and opening up avenues for clean and affordable energy on the other. It has been learnt that the Sustainable and Renewable Energy Development Authority (Sreda) has submitted the final draft of the renewable energy policy to make it more effective in the changed energy and power sector perspective.

The government is considering installing solar panels on rooftops of primary and secondary schools in a bid to promote renewable energy, said Nasrul Hamid, state minister for power, energy and mineral resources. “Land shortage is one of the main obstacles to renewable energy. Considering such limitations, the rooftops of primary and secondary schools have been considered for increasing power generation from renewable sources,” he also mentioned. 

State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid said “The investment and technology of the ACWA will help Bangladesh achieve its clean energy goal of 2041. The government has been working in a coordinated manner to promote renewable energy. State-owned Sustainable and Renewable Energy Development Authority (Sreda) is providing necessary technological support and consultations.”

Solar energy is the single most dependable RE resource that can be resourced on a large scale. This expectation is turning out to be true with local and foreign investments occurring in grid-tied utility scale solar parks and industrial rooftop projects. According to the Chairman of SREDA, more than 1,000 MW of utility scale solar parks and 500 MW of commercial/industrial rooftop solar PV projects under the net metering scheme are on the horizon.

The energy sector was made LNG-dependent despite repeated warnings against it from experts. Even though multiple calls were made to the government to investigate and excavate for natural gas onshore and offshore, that was never done. Instead, the sector was pushed towards LNG, and megastructures were built to support that orientation.

Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology pro-vice-chancellor Abdul Jabbar Khan said on Saturday that BUET would meet 50 per cent of its total electricity demand through solar power by 2023 and save over Tk 60 lakh per annum.

As high price of imported Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) has forced the government to go for austerity in power use, the scramble for finding an alternative source of energy has understandably begun. Needless to say, the obvious choice is renewable energy.

Bangladesh could save $2.7 billion between 2022 and 2024 by solar generation, according to a report published by Ember, a global energy think tank.

Dhaka will seek Riyadh’s assistance in enhancing energy security and developing clean power sources, its embassy in the Kingdom told Arab News ahead of a meeting of the Bangladesh-Saudi Arabia Joint Commission. Dependent on imported liquefied natural gas, Bangladesh has struggled with an acute energy crisis in recent months as the country tackles surging energy demands.

THE government’s unfavourable policy towards the renewable energy sector has remained an obstacle to the steady enhancement of the country’s renewable capacity. In the past decade, a short-sighted, profit-seeking energy policy has resulted in a 373 per cent increase in fossil fuel capacity as opposed to a 134 per cent increase in renewable capacity.

Bangladesh and Brunei have agreed to go for long-term collaboration in the energy sector, particularly in the supply of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and other petroleum products to Bangladesh. The agreement came during the delegation-level meeting led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Brunei Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah at the Prime Minister’s Office yesterday.

The largest export sector apparel, which also needs gas for its captive power, boiler and washing plants, is struggling to meet their production deadlines owing to the twin crises of gas and electricity. They have no clue how long the crisis will persist.

BANGLADESH stands at a crossroads regarding energy security given its growing dependence on the import of liquefied natural gas amidst a volatile market and an absence of contracts for long-term import. The London-based energy think tank Ember says that the import of liquefied natural gas would cost Bangladesh $11 billion between 2022 and 2024.

The spot market LNG imports could cost Bangladesh about $11 billion between 2022 and 2024, whereas solar could reduce these imports by 25% and save the country $2.7 billion, according to the global energy think tank Ember.

Traditionally, liquified natural gas (LNG) has been the primary source of energy in Bangladesh. For the last few years, domestic gas production has been declining and we have started importing liquefied natural gas (LNG) to meet the excess demand. However, owing to the spike in LNG prices in the global markets, the government is facing challenges to meet the energy demand. With gas reserves declining, the economy may become more vulnerable to the volatility of LNG prices.

Bangladesh is heading towards even a worse energy crisis, energy experts warned, with the draft Integrated Energy and Power Master Plan prioritising fossil fuel import for the next five years despite forecasts about the international energy market remaining volatile over the time.

“So, the government has taken an initiative to set up more floating storage and re-gasification units (FSRUs) across the country”, Prime Minister’s Energy Adviser Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury told a webinar, organised by the Bangladesh Energy Society (BES). He said the dependence on imported liquefied natural gas (LNG) would continue some more time as there is no immediate possibility of gas exploration from the country’s offshore areas.

Bangladesh has the potential to generating over 4,000 megawatts of electricity from rooftop solar panels, said Alamgir Morshed, executive director and CEO of Infrastructure Development Company Limited (Idcol). The Idcol has set a target to finance 300 MW of power through rooftop solar projects by 2025, he added.

The draft IEPMP ignored the need to explore domestic gas resources, viewing the power sector’s future in imported energy, and lacked a roadmap to reduce power sector system losses, which experts said would impose a fiscal burden on the Power Development Board and raise power sector subsidies.

Renewable energy resources turned out to be the second cheapest source of electricity, after gas, in the 2021-22 financial year, according to Power Development Board data. In the past financial year, the cost of each unit of electricity generated by renewable energy — mainly solar power — in private plants slightly increased, about 2 per cent, to Tk 13, compared with the previous financial year.

In the last 11 years, the government has given about Tk 90,000 crore to the power companies without taking any electricity. This is known as capacity charge or the rent of the power plant’s production capacity. Bangladesh Power Development Board (PDB) sources said this information.

On Aug. 25, the Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) revealed that a 30 MW solar project began operating in northern Bangladesh. The project is owned by Intraco Solar Power Ltd. (ISPL), a unit of publicly listed Paramount Textile Ltd. (PTL), which is mainly involved in textile production. Recently, it started to diversify its investment portfolio.

State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid on Thursday said various initiatives have been taken to increase the stake of renewable energy sources. Nasrul said: “We will go to a better position after the next month or the month after. Bangladesh encourages expansion of renewable energy. Currently, 910.82MW of electricity is generated from renewable energy sources, but 32 projects are going on for more 1442 MW of electricity.”

As the world at large, and Bangladesh as a consequence, experiences the ongoing energy crisis, one thing is certain: If we are to sustain the trajectory of our progress, we will need to find newer and more innovative ways of generating energy in addition to traditional sources.

Thirty-five percent of all capacity payments the government made to independent power producers (IPPs) over the last three years went to two private companies and a joint venture.

One goes to local cynosure Summit Group and another to US firm Excelerate Energy’s share under deals sans tender as the Bangladesh government decides to build two more LNG-import terminals on the bay. Sources say one of the floating liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminals will be built at Moheskhali island in Cox’s Bazar and the other at Payra in Patuakhali, as the country now heavily banks on LNG import to cater growing gas needs against slowing local production.

Prime minister Sheikh Hasina on Monday offered land to Qatar in the special economic zones being set up across Bangladesh alongside seeking more help from the gulf country in the energy sector, particularly in LNG import. “Bangladesh is setting up 100 special economic zones. Qatar can take land in the zones for its investors and entrepreneurs to make investments on a larger scale,” she said.

There is a lack of clarity and transparency when it comes to how much subsidy is being provided to the power sector, why the government is providing it, and in fact, who they are subsidizing. In the Bangladesh Economic Review, which is prepared by the government, it is clearly stated that from 2014-15 to May, 2022, no subsidy was provided. In fact, up until that time, the government made a profit of Tk 48,000 crore.

Primary fuel supply shortage is blamed for partial idling of electricity generation capacity in the country. On the contrary, idling of the installed power generation capacity has been inviting load shedding in the country. The war in Ukraine has sparked international crisis and aggravated fossil fuel supply chain. The crisis of fossil fuel supply has demonstrated that over-dependence on imported fuels would lead to serious troubles for the country’s economy and equitable social development.

The ongoing crisis in the power and energy sector started with the suspension of the import of LNG for re-gasification using the floating storage re-gasification units (FSRUs) and the addition of the same to the national grid. State-owned Petrobangla, some months back, had stopped the import of LNG because of its soaring prices in the spot market. The government also wanted to save some amount of foreign exchange.

With the global LNG market staying turbulent accompanied by high price amid inadequate supply, LNG infrastructure projects worth $96.7 billion in four south and south-east Asian countries, including Bangladesh, risk getting faltered or cancelled, said a report released by the US-based Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis.

The government had taken an initiative to set up a 3600-megawatt power plant based on liquefied natural gas (LNG) at Kalapara upazila in Patuakhali in 2017. The following steps of land allotment and feasibility study were also completed.

In a time of global energy crisis for reasons including Covid-19 pandemic and Russia-Ukraine war, energy experts have called for increasing dependence on local resources including gas produced in the country, solar plants, and Kaptai hydropower plant.

Anirban Kundu, country director for KfW in Bangladesh, said the €80 million loan is part of a €99.50 million financing package that KFW is providing on behalf of the German government. It also include €18.50 million of investment grants and €1 million of accompanying measure grants.

When the energy crisis is going on in other countries of the world due to the effect of the Russia-Ukraine war, the government wants to increase the progress of the energy sector, like the power sector, along with various saving initiatives to deal with the crisis in Bangladesh.

Energy efficiency is now prioritized as an avenue to not only save energy but also minimize costs while reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Both goals must be pursued simultaneously to make the energy system of a country sustainable. To this end, Bangladesh has been promoting renewable energy and energy efficiency, supported by policies and regulations. Yet the country has its own set of obstacles to utilizing renewable energy at scale.

Bangladesh faces another three years of rolling power cuts as the developing nation struggles to secure long-term supplies of natural gas and is priced out of spot markets.  The South Asian country stopped purchasing spot liquefied natural gas cargoes in June because of volatile prices, and is considering sourcing more long-term supplies, Nasrul Hamid, the state minister for power, energy and mineral resources, said.

The supply of natural gas, one of the low carbon-emitting fossil fuels, has been especially inadequate in meeting the rising global demand for energy. Prices of natural gas started to climb after October 2021, due to a combination of an uptick in economic activity, volatile weather conditions, and production and export disruptions. Natural gas is a critical part of the economy for developing countries such as Bangladesh, where it powers almost 52% of the generation capacity.

The National Committee to Protect Oil-Gas-Mineral Resources and Power Ports believes that the wrong policies and corruption of the present government while protecting the interests of various groups, both domestic and foreign, have created this crisis in the energy and power sector. This was stated in a statement, cited nine specific reasons for the current situation in the country’s power sector. 

The Bangladesh government has signed a $515 million loan agreement with the  World Bank to ensure uninterrupted power supply and environmentally friendly energy. Under this, 90 lakh people of Dhaka and Mymensingh divisions will be benefited. Dandan Chen, the World Bank’s acting country director in Bangladesh and Bhutan, said the programme requires rapid economic growth using new and emerging technologies. The efficiency of power supply in the country can be increased as well as made more reliable.

When the country is reeling from load shedding and production cuts in industries due to short supply of imported fuel, there is a small but significant development in the country: the national grid is likely to get an additional 60 megawatts of green power in December this year as the country’s maiden large-scale wind-powered power plant is set to go into production in that month.

The gas sector was the worst hit and a serious supply shortage peaked the Asian spot LNG price at USD 35/MMBtu in October 2021. The high gas price put pressure on other fuels, especially coal for power production.  Considering the situation, every bit of renewable energy, including rooftop, household, irrigation, streetlights, etc., must be supported through policy and finance. It is expected that due to demand destruction and probable recession in some countries, energy prices will come down soon (except gas). Along with forced saving, citizens need to conserve energy as much as possible.

According to data from state-owned Petrobangla, the government has been injecting less LNG into the national gas-supply grid for the last few days. The government decided for the time being to not buy LNG from the international spot market where the price has gone up significantly in recent months.

Despite having an abundance of potential for solar and wind energy, Bangladesh is ranked in the top five for global coal and gas power projects in development (by megawatt), according to the Global Energy Monitor.

The state-owned petroleum corporation is looking to reach a long-term contract with the neighbouring country’s state-owned oil and gas producer with a view to minimising the increasing crisis of gas at home. The move is also to lessen forex pressure for importing LNG from the spot market, sources in the government said.

Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen told parliament that the increased purchase price of oil and LNG is putting a negative impact on foreign exchange reserves.

Since LNG imports began in 2018, the government subsidy burden in Bangladesh has ballooned to keep up with higher costs. And unfortunately, price volatility and supply insecurity of LNG aren’t going away anytime soon. According to a recent analysis from global consulting firm Rystad Energy, global LNG demand is likely to remain above global supply for the foreseeable future, meaning there won’t be enough LNG to go around.

Rooftop and ground-mounted solar deployment is reportedly slowing down in Bangladesh due to rising prices of panels, inverters, and other PV system components. Project developers in Bangladesh are developing power plants at a slower pace, as overall costs have escalated by 15% to 20% since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Bangladesh has got a long term credit facility of $200 million from the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) to develop a range of infrastructure projects top of which stands renewable energy expansion in the country. The renewable energy and electricity infrastructure improvement is to ensure optimal power supplies throughout Bangladesh.

Bangladesh will increase the number of listed liquefied natural gas (LNG) suppliers from international spot market expecting to get more participants in the selective bidding process and purchase the fuel at a competitive price.
“We shall invite expressions of interests, or EOIs, from interested global LNG suppliers soon to select new listed firms to source LNG from spot market,” Petrobangla chairman Md Nazmul Ahsan told the FE.
Currently, state-owned Rupantarita Prakritik Gas Company Ltd (RPGCL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the state-run Petrobangla, invites bids from only 16 listed suppliers to purchase LNG from spot market.

Bangladesh’s proven natural gas reserves might be depleted in less than five years if production continues at its current rate, said a new report. According to the report, titled ‘Bangladesh at an Energy Crossroads’, the current rising trend of consumption is predicted to continue with domestic gas supplies expected to fall 25 per cent by 2025.Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI), a US based independent, non-partisan, nonprofit organization, released the report.

Increasing gas and power price will make things worse for people, while they are already faced with inflation and price hike, said Consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB) in an online press conference.

Wind and solar are the fastest-growing sources of electricity, reaching a record 10 percent of global electricity in 2021, according to a report of Ember, an independent, not-for-profit climate and energy think tank. The report reveals that the milestone has now been reached by 50 countries around the world.

Aside from its impact on the global LNG market, the Russia-Ukraine war has sparked a multifaceted global crisis. From the death of civilians to nuclear threats and devastating economic consequences, the war has taken a toll on the international community. And while dealing with these issues is of utmost importance, the focus of our analysis falls on the energy crisis, energy security and the war’s fundamental disruptions to the global LNG market.

As an intermediate between coal and zero-emission energy sources, liquefied natural gas (LNG) is a transition fuel. It’s cleaner than traditional fossil fuels but not as clean as renewables.

Twelve companies took more than Tk 8,730 crore in capacity charge in 2020–21, accounting for more than 66 per cent of the total money paid in the fiscal year by the government to the idle private power plants, revealed a new report released on Thursday on the country’s excess power capacity and its economic cost.

The import cost of per unit liquefied natural gas (LNG) for the current fiscal year would be about 24 times higher than the local company production, according to the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD).

The import cost of per unit liquefied natural gas (LNG) for the current fiscal year would be about 24 times higher than the local company production, according to the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD).