Government has taken massive positive initiative for development of Solar Power

To promote fastest  implementation Government also taken many incentive measures. Such as zero taxes on import of Solar PV panels and Inverters. Phased Tax exemptions for 15 years for solar power plant projects. There are also possibilities of getting carbon credit from developed countries. 

Special budget allocations are given to different ministries to install Solar panels on the roof tops of Government buildings, Hospitals , schools, colleges, universities and unused spaces. Provision for selling Electricity from Roof top solar plants  has been made under net metering system.

These incentives encouraged people and business communities to move forward for installation of solar power plants.

It is foreseen many of the excess generation from Roof Top Electricity will be injected to National Grid mostly in the 11 KV and 0.4 KV distribution network. 

Development of Solar Power capacity will obviously reduce use of fossil fuels and also reduce in import of LNG and Coal. In parallel it is required to take into consideration of Impact of input of Solar Power in the national Grid system. Power Grid Plc will need to monitor and conduct  studies on impacts of solar power inputs for ensuring the stability of  national Grid.

Institutional development of Solar power through Power utility organizations will be best to evaluate the impact and take mitigation measures for keeping the stability in Grid Power system.

The Solar Power System also require regular maintenance. For this, trained technical persons are required to do maintenance works. 

The country has experiences of Solar Home project implemented by IDCOL. After installation, the system was in use for 1 to 2 years only because of No Maintenance. This also happened in many Government offices and establishments. Unplanned procurement of Solar Power Equipment without maintenance support ultimately turned the costly procurement to wastage.

This may happen again if the planned solar panel projects are implemented through Non Professional organizations.

One important point not highlighted that is our Grid can not take more than 5000 MW until 2030 to serve maximum forecasted evening pick demand of 20000 MW and off pick below 14000 MW. 

Another is IDCOL' s Solar Home System's of 2003 which did not sustain long because of implementation of the project by Non Professional organisation and No Maintenance arrangement.

From 2010 break through happened in Electricity Generation capacity through short term and mid term plan. From about 4000 MW, the present  Country’s total Generation capacity together IPPs and  captive generation reached to above 32000 MW against demand of around 17000 MW. Even then due to supply shortfall in  import of LNG and coal In this year, country faced load shedding in the range of 1000 to 3000 MW. the maximum  demand is 50% of the generation capacity. 

Construction of Solar Power Plants is simple compare to fossil fuel Power Plants. But it requires big chunk of land /space for installation of Solar PV panels. The   efficiency is also low compare to fossil fuel plants. One 100 MW solar plant needs about 2.5 acres of land where as a 100 MW combined cycle with Gas fuel can be constructed within 10 acres. As electricity  generation from solar plants depends on availability of solar irradiation and the full capacity  generation is available for 4 to 4.5 hours in day time only. For which the efficiency is around 20 to 22% only. The cost of Electricity from Solar plants with out Battery Storage is cheaper compare to fossil fuel costs as there is no any fuel costs it’s  operation.   For use of solar renewable power round the clock from a 100 MW solar plant, it requires to install battery storage system   of 3 times capacity and use one fourth of the capacity that is about 25 MW. The price of electricity also about 2 to 2.5 times more from a solar plant with battery storage system.

For Grid system stability and reliable power supply ,it is required to have base load plants to meet the minimum demand level and other plants to deliver the peak demands ensuring quality power.

The impact of Solar Power input in Grid system up to 5% is not very significant and manageable with Power input from spinning reserve of other power plants with FGMO mode of operation. The base load generation capacity together with the Import from India is about 20000 MW. The base load generation will add  more 2400 with the commissioning of Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant. The cost of Electricity from gas based combined cycle and coal plants are lower than the solar power. The electricity generation  from Nuclear plant  need to be  continuous and uninterrupted. The cost  will also be lower than solar power. 

In Bangladesh the day time Electricity demand in between 10 to 2-00 PM is within 12000 MW. So, if Electricity from solar plants to be taken during it’s highest generation then same amount of Electricity generation will need to be stopped taking from base load plants. It means, inputs from solar power will not be economical to Power Utilities.

More over there happens wide variations of electricity generation from solar PV panels during cloudy days . In Bangladesh, from May to September this variations will make a huge impact in Grid stability unless the solar power plants do not have some percentage of Battery Storage support. In the context of present capacity  Bangladesh can have maximum 5000 MW from Soar and Wind Renewable sources. Considering the constraints of land availabilty it will better to have more roof top solar system rather than on plain land.