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Evening is approaching at the confluence of two rivers in the Bay of Bengal — the Payra and Bishkhali. Still, the fishermen at the pier in Gazimahmud village are busy preparing for the next day’s work — every boat here is now illuminated by small solar-powered devices.
“Solar power is now not only in homes, it is also at our work. Now, there is no rush to return home when it is evening,” says fisherman Altaf Hossain, who is arranging fishing nets in his boat so that he’s ready for tomorrow.
Hossain is now able to work longer hours and boost his income, and he doesn’t have to worry about his wife and kids at home at night. The children sit under a solar-powered light to study, while Hossain’s wife, Roksana Begum, does various chores.
“The sun gives us light both during the day and at night,” Begum says. “It has made our lives much easier and has changed our livelihoods.”
Gazimahmud village is about 30 kilometres away from Barguna Sadar, the southernmost district of Bangladesh. A winding road leads to this village, where the sea and two rivers meet. The people of this remote community still remember the devastation caused by the powerful Cyclone Sidr in 2007, when 30 locals died. When the storm hit, it was difficult for many to reach safety as the entire area was dark. Now, thanks to most of the houses in the village having solar power, the community feels better prepared for future disasters.
“We have more faith in solar power, because, when a storm comes, the electricity connection may be disconnected or the power may be turned off, but solar power helps us to find a safe shelter by showing us the way,” says resident Monir Hossain.
Unprecedented success
Bangladesh has implemented the world’s largest off-grid solar power programme, with 20 million people across the country benefiting, according to the World Bank.
What began as a pilot project in 2003, involving 50,000 households, ultimately reached 14% of the population within 15 years, while some 200,000 rural businesses and religious facilities benefited from the Solar Home Systems (SHS) initiative as well.
The programme, which officially ran until 2018, was implemented in partnership with the private sector. Among other measures, the state provided generous incentives, such as tax breaks, for rooftop solar installers, and also focused on ensuring financing mechanisms were in place.
Together with 56 partner organisations, the government installed 4.1 million solar systems in remote areas by 2018.
According to the World Bank, the initiative has improved health and living conditions — including by reducing the use of kerosene lamps and thereby tackling indoor air pollution — and boosted school attendance. It also led to household solar becoming “a credible electricity source”.
“The Solar Home Systems programme has shown that millions of dollars raised internationally can be efficiently leveraged to provide loans of as little as $100 in remote corners of the country, enabling a rural household to purchase a solar home system,” according to Amit Jain, a senior energy specialist at the World Bank.
Alongside the rooftop solar push, the government focused on expanding the grid to remote areas to meet its goal of “100% electrification by 2021”, which it claims to have achieved. As a result, the household solar push has been scaled back.
Mitigating climate risk a national priority
While the solar electrification programme was largely about expanding electricity access, the renewable technology is also seen as key to fighting one of Bangladesh’s biggest threats.
The country is ranked seventh in the world in terms of climate vulnerability. Cyclones frequently affect coastal communities, and the number of displaced people is rising. The World Bank projects that 216 million people will be internally displaced in six regions of the world by 2050 due to climate change — including 19.9 million in Bangladesh.
The trend is already clear. According to the Global Report on Internal Displacement 2021, 4.4 million people were displaced in Bangladesh in 2020 — almost all due to natural disasters.
To clean up its power grid and contribute to the fight against climate change, Bangladesh plans to install 4.1GW of renewable energy capacity by 2030, up from around 1.2GW today.
However, there are many who believe that’s not ambitious enough.
“Renewable energy is not getting priority in government policy now,” says M. Zakir Hossain Khan, CEO of the Change Initiative, a non-governmental organisation focused on climate change and renewable energy. Existing power generators, which receive capacity charges for being online, are holding things back, Khan says.
“The government should provide land for the construction of solar power plants. It should provide incentives by reducing taxes and duties on investment. If tenders are called for the construction of new plants to reduce the cost of electricity generation, foreign companies will participate.”
