Dhaka, Jun 30 (IANS): The Bangladesh government and the World Bank have signed a 515 million financing agreement to help 9 million people in country get access to reliable electricity supply while transforming to clean energy, the global lender said on Thursday.
It said the Electricity Distribution Modernization Program will support the digitization and modernization of 25 rural electric cooperatives or Palli Bidyut Samitis in Dhaka and Mymensingh Division and reduce electricity system losses by over 2 per cent, reports Xinhua news agency.
The program will increase Bangladesh Rural Electrification Board's (BREB) delivery of electricity by 6,790 GWh while improving the climate resilience of the electricity system.
"The government of Bangladesh has prioritized access to electricity in the last decade and now the entire population have access to electricity. The installed generation capacity increased five-fold to 25 GW in the same period," said Dandan Chen, acting World Bank Country Director for Bangladesh and Bhutan.
"Through this program, new and emerging technologies will further strengthen the efficiency and reliability of electric supply in the country to meet the need for faster economic growth," Chen said.
Through the BREB, the bank said the program will support solar metering connections for over 100 customers, bringing 150 MW of new rooftop solar capacity onto the grid. It will improve and construct 31,000 km of distribution lines and deploy 200,000 advanced meters.
In addition, according to the bank, the program will help strengthen Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) and distributed renewable energy through preparation of roadmaps for deployment.
This will lead to an annual reduction of carbon emissions by 41,400 metric tonnes.
"The program is aligned with the government's Integrated Energy and Power Sector Masterplan, currently under preparation, which will help establish a low carbon energy system," said Fatima Yasmin, secretary of Bangladesh's Economic Relations Division.
The agreement includes a $15 million grant from the Clean Technology Fund to support BESS.