Govt okays new Renewable Energy Project plan  

Government has approved a Power Division plan to form a new company to generate mega Renewable Energy/Power Projects in the country.
As per plan, a new company titled "Bangladesh- China Power Company (BCPCL)" would be formed under the supervision of state owned North West Power Generation Company (NWPGC) to implement mega- power projects from solar and wind energy.
"We got the Cabinet Division's nod in this regard today (Monday); however, we have already stared paper work in this regard," State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid told the Daily Observer.
Earlier, government formed Sustainable and Renewable Energy Development Authority (SREDA) in 2012, which is now working under Power Division but failed to increase satisfactory amount of energy from there.
"A novel agency was formed to promote, facilitate and disseminate sustainable energy (SE), covering both the areas of Renewable Energy (RE) and Energy Efficiency (EE) to ensure the energy security of the country. Our aim was to stop carbon emission and reduce long- term cost of energy generation. We plan to take some mega projects and for that the new initiative was taken up," a senior official said.
Government had announced a renewable energy policy and also a plan to increase its share in power generation from the present level of one  percent to 5 percent by 2015 and 10 percent in 2020.
"From this new entity we will take 500 MW RE project, and the mode of payment would be "no power no bill" thus we would be able to cut our loss in power purchase from the owner," the official said.
He said that government has identified some areas including Pabna, Sirajganj, Gaibandha and Payra for the mega solar projects, examining the scope to solar and wind projects viability of these areas, the authority will choose the right project, however, it will be a 50:50 Bangladesh -China joint venture project, he added.