Progress on renewable energy projects uncertain

Despite having a Tk 200 crore "Green Fund" and international monetary support in implementing Renewable Energy (RE) projects, local investors are reluctant to implement them, resulting in slowing down the Sustainable and Renewable Energy Development Authority's (SREDA) plan to get 3,100-MW of electricity from solar and wind resources by 2021.
"We selected nine companies to implement around 1000MW solar projects and contracts, including Power Purchase agreements (PPA), have been signed with them, but we did not find any physical progress of the projects in the last three years," a senior official of the Power Division told the Daily Observer on Saturday.
We reminded them to implement the projects as per contracts, but failed to implement, he added.
The government has set a target to generate 2,000-MW in 2021 and 4,000-MW in 2030 from renewable energy sources. It is now producing 411-MW.
Bangladesh Bank (BB) has established the Green Banking for Energy Sustainable Economy, a joint initiative of SREDA, GIZ and BIBM.  
The project aims at promoting access to finance, intervention through strengthening green banking framework and capacity enhancement of banks and financial institutions.
"Money is not at all a problem here. The main challenges of a investor are to channelise the fund in his favour and lack of cooperation of the government offices for allotment of land in proper manner," Siddique Zobayer, member of SREDA, said.
Although seven gigantic IPP solar power projects received the 'Prime Minister's go-ahead signal' for implementation, the Power Division has so far been able to sign the final contract only for one project.
The lone project for which the contract was signed is 32-MW (AC) solar park at Dharmapasa in Sunamganj district. The six other projects that have got stuck in bureaucratic tangle, are 200-MW (AC) solar park at Teknaf in Cox's Bazar, 200 (AC)-MW solar park in Gaibandha, 50-MW (AC) solar park at Sutiuakhali in Mymensingh, 30- MW (AC) solar park at Gangachhara in Rangpur, 20-MW (AC) solar park in Cox's Bazar and 10 MW Grid-tied solar power project at Goainghat in Sylhet.
"Bangladesh achieved a significant progress in increasing installed power generation capacity to over 15,000-MW as compared to 4942- MW in 2009, presently, around 80 per cent of our population have access to electricity where contribution of renewable electricity is 12 per cent," the state minister for power and energy said.
Earlier, the government had set a policy for the state owned six power generation companies (each) to produce 100-MW power from wind turbine and 455-MW from the solar panels by 2021.
"There is no progress of the projects," official said.
The government has already installed 3 million solar panels and is set to install 2.5 million within one and a half years, but it has failed to implement solar park like mega projects in RE, the official added.
"The price of solar power plants is decreasing day by day, so the investors love to take the go-slow path just to cut their investment cost," Professor Dr, Saifur Rahman of Dhaka University said.