This is an incredibly opportune moment for Bangladesh, one that we cannot afford to squander
Given the state of our energy sector and the general phasing out of traditional fossil-fuel based energy resources around the world, pivoting towards renewable energy has never made more sense for Bangladesh than now.
Indeed, according to the Centre for Policy Dialogue, the renewable energy sector in Bangladesh is slowly emerging as a promising arena for foreign investment as interest among foreign investors with regards to Bangladesh’s goal of achieving 30% renewable energy by 2030 and 40% by the year 2041.
This is an incredibly opportune moment for Bangladesh, one that we cannot afford to squander.
Energy security has, once again, come into question in our nation as global events such as Russia’s needless invasion of Ukraine plunged Bangladesh back into the days of rolling blackouts due to our reliance on fuel imports. While matters have improved in the past year, it has become abundantly clear that our nation needs to be more self-reliant in meeting its energy demands.
To that end, as a nation fighting on the front-lines in the war against climate change, it is absolutely imperative that we leave traditional modes of energy generation behind and go all-in on clean energy and ideas such as peer-to-peer solar grids attest to the useability of renewable energy in Bangladesh.
Which is why we must make the most of the recent foreign interest in our energy sector, which means that the government must ensure certain factors are dealt with in order to secure such deals — factors such our administration’s historical tendency to put up needless bureaucratic hurdles and of course a well-trained, certified workforce that understands the various technical underpinnings of renewable energy.
It’s time for Bangladesh to enter the age of sustainable, clean energy.
Source: Dhaka Tribune.