Master Plan for low-carbon energy on cards

The government is set to formulate the integrated energy and power master plan (IEPMP) focusing on a long-term low-carbon energy policy for economic development and energy demand forecast by 2050.
"The proposed master plan on power and energy should help Bangladesh phase out fossil-fuel-based and expensive generation system and guide it towards cleaner electricity and boosting the use of renewable energy and ensure energy efficiency and conservation in future energy plan," Power Cell DG Mohammad Hossain told the Daily Observer on Tuesday.
The technical working committee on Power System Development will sit today (Wednesday) to discuss issues related to the PSMP.
Meanwhile, given that the 8FYP has clearly identified power overcapacity as a problem, the new IEPMP must address this by prioritizing grid investments so that better use can be made of existing capacity, however, the main challenges in power sector includes  excess capacity, huge capacity payment, inefficiency, the use of expensive energy, and a higher financial burden. And the energy sector is facing serious challenges because no government likes to address the sector in proper manner in terms of gas exploration issue.
 "We are focusing on the "3E+S" concept, '3E+S' concept stands for ensuring 'Energy Security', 'Economic Efficiency', and 'Environment' while "S" stands for 'Safety' issues," Power Cell DG Mohammad Hossain told this correspondent on Tuesday.
The government formed a 29-member Steering Committee to look into the work of PEMP. Under which two separate technical working committee called Power System Development committee (21 member) and Energy data Management committee (25 member) has been formed, they will address the limitations of the previous plans and should aim to reduce excess installed capacity in a phased manner and transition to clean power by gradual phase-out of fossil fuel and phase-in of renewable energy, Power
Cell in a paper said.
They will study the country's 8th Five-year Development Plan, gas sector master plan 2017, and revise the power system master plant 2016 and other relevant policies and plans to prepare the prospects for economic development and energy demand forecast by 2050 with a focus on energy efficiency and conservation, Power Cell DG said.
A calculation and analysis on financial cost and benefit for implementing different scenario-based plans will be another task of the plan giving an overview of the supply and demand for the timeframe midpoints in 2030, 2041 and 2050, he added.
JICA is funding the project through its grant, it has engaged Tokyo-based consulting firm Institute of Energy Economics, Japan (IEEJ) to complete the task. However, JICA had provided financial and technical support for formulating all the previous power system master plans (PSMPs) until 2016. On March 15 in 2021, government and JICA signed an agreement to complete the formulation of the integrated energy and power master plan, which is the first of this kind, by December 2022 under a completion contract of a timeframe of 30 months.
We prepared two separate master plans -- one for the energy sector and another for power sector -- which had many missing links and lack of coordination, resulting in imbalance between the energy and power sector's growth, however, this time we want to address it," Mohammad Hossain said.
"But for the first time, we're going to formulate an integrated master plan putting equal emphasis on development of both the sectors in order to support the current robust economic growth," the Director General of Power Cell said.   
In the last 12-13 years, the country's power sector witnessed a robust growth with increased power generation from 4,500 MW to 21,000 MW while growth in the energy sector remained non-significant as neither any new discovery was made in gas exploration nor a low cost primary fuel was ensured.   
Officials said Bangladesh has to now import a significant amount of primary fuel -- especially liquid petroleum, liquefied natural gas (LNG) and coal -- to meet the demand of the power and industry sector.
In the existing power system master plan (PSMP) 2016, about 60,000 MW of power generation was targeted by 2041 in which primary fuel mix set at 70 per cent coming from coal and gas while the remaining 30 per cent will be covered by liquid fuel, renewable, nuclear and other sources.