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Overview of the Renewable Energy Sector in Bangladesh

 

 

Presented by

 

DR. M. EUSUF

Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies (BCAS)

Dhaka

Renewable Energy

 

The most common definition is that renewable Energy is from an energy source that is replaced rapidly by the natural process. Renewable sources of energy are shown in the following Table :

 

 

New and Renewable Energy Technologies and Applications

 

Energy sources

Liquid fuels

Centralized electric power

Decentralized power

Heat

1.

Solar

 

Thermal electric, photovoltaic, solar pond

Thermal electric, photovoltaic

Solar passive, Solar pond, Solar flat plate, Evacuated tube, Solar concentrators

2.

Geo-thermal

 

Geothermal electric

Geothermal small power

Geothermal Direct heat

3.

Wind

 

 

Wind electric

Wind electric, Wind shaft

4.

Hydro-power

 

Hydropower (including small hydro)

Mini hydro

Micro hydro

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Energy sources

Liquid fuels

Centralized electric power

Decentralized power

Heat

5.

Biomass  Including biogas

Ethanol,

Methane

Vegetable

Oils

Direct

combustion

1.         Diesel
with

    Liquid   biofuel

1. Direct

    combustion

6.

Fuel-wood

 

Direct combustion

 

Direct combustion of wood and charcoal

7.

Oil shale and tar sands

Syn-crude

Shale burning

 

Liquid fuel for cooking

8.

Ocean/
energy

 

Tidal, OTEC,

Wave

Wave

 

9.

Draught animal

 

 

Traction and

shaft power

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Energy Consumption Pattern in 1990 (PJ)

Sector

Non-renewable

Renewable

Total

Domestic

37.8

404.5

442.3

Industrial

40.5

92.7

133.2

Commercial

7.1

1.8

8.9

Transport

27.5

0

27.5

Agriculture

11.9

0

11.9

Non-energy use

58.8

0

58.8

Others

0.3

0

0.3

Total

183.9

499.0

682.9

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

Electricity Generation

 

Installed Capacity (2003/04)        -           4680 MW

Production Capacity (2003/04)    -           3592 MW

 

Source Based Generation Pattern (2003/04:

Gas – 88.90%, Hydro – 3.99%, Liquid fuel – 7.11%,

Total generation = 20,062 GWh

 

Per Capita Generation – 153.77 kWh

Per Capita Consumption – 133.11 kWh

 

Available Non-renewable Energy Sources:

            Natural Gas       -           16.3 TCF

            Coal                  -           1750 million tons

            Peat                 -           171 million tons

 

 

 

 

 

 

Potential of Renewable Energy Sources

 

            Solar     700 – 900 ´ 1018 J/year

            Biogas  25 – 70 ´ 1015 J/year

            Hydro power      1300 MW

            Wind, tidal etc.  Needs investigation

 

 

 

Status of Renewable Energy Technologies

 

 

Technology type

Number installed

Potential

Improved stove

Over 300,000    

Above 20 million

Biogas plant

Over 50,000 m3

3675×106 m3

Solar Photovoltaic

Over 3 MW       

50,436 MW

Solar Drier

Self made

(Number not known)

Needs investigation

Solar Cooker

Over 800

Needs study

Solar water heater

A few

Needs study

Wind Generator

50 kW ?

2,000 MW

Briquetting machine

Over 1000

Needs study

Hydro

230MW

672MW

Solar Thermal

800m²

20x106m2

Geothermal

Nil

Needs Investigation

Energy Saving per year through Improved Stoves

4.7 PJ

312.5 PJ

 

 

Immediate Steps Needed

 

a)       To use biogas plants, efficient cooking appliances and solar lighting devices

b)       To introduce improved cogeneration in sugar industries

c)       To use city wastes for generation of power and biofertilizer and creation of better environment

d)       To use poultry droppings for generation of power and biofertilizer helping expansion of poultry industry

  

 

 

Initiatives Already Undertaken

 

a)       Conversion of petrol-driven vehicles to CNG-driven vehicles

b)         All the petrol-lub-driven 3-wheelers in the Dhaka city have been converted making the city air much cleaner than before.

c)       Introduction of efficient cooking stoves (BCSIR)

d)         Introduction of biogas plants (BCSIR, LGED, IDCOL, Grameen Shakti, BRAC, SNV)

e)         Introduction of Solar home systems (REB, IDCOL, Grameen Shakti, Rahim Afrooz, BRAC and others)

f)          Introduction of wind generator (PDB. LGED)

g)         Biogas plants based on poultry droppings (BCSIR, GTZ, BCAS).

 

 

 

 

Policy Initiatives

 

a)       Bangladesh a signatory of UNFCCC.

b)       UNFCCC ratified by GOB on 15 April 1994.

c)       Established Ministry of Environment & Forest (MOEF) with two major departments, namely, Department of Environment (DOE) and Forest Department (FD).

d)       Adapted an Environmental Policy in 1992, an Environment Protection Act in 1995 and a National Environment Management Action Plan (NEMAP) in 1996.

e)       Under Environment Protection Act 1995, adapted Environment Protection Regulation, 1997,

f)         Constituted an interministerial steering Committee with the Secretary, MOEF for implementation of UNFCCC Programme.

g)       Formation of CDM Board, CDM Committee and CDM Secretariat.

 

 

 

2.  PREGA

Asian Development Bank (ADB) has launched a project entitled “Promotion of Renewable Energy, Energy Efficiency and Greenhouse Gas Abatement – PREGA” in 2002 in some countries of South East Asia. The objectives of this project are :

a)         To promote investment in PREGA technologies that will
            increase access to energy services by the poor, reduce GHG
            emissions and realize other strategic development
            activities.

b)         To generate a pipeline of investment projects for financing
            through commercial, multilateral and bilateral sources
            including specialized treaty-linked mechanisms such as
            CDM and GEF.

c)         To identify policy and institutional barriers to
            dissemination of PREGA technologies.

d)         To study and develop financing models for PREGA
            investment projects.

 

  

 

Availability and Quality of Raw Materials

A large amount of wastes is generated daily in Dhaka city. Power Cell, Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (MEMR), under the sponsorship of the World Bank, commissioned in 1998 Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies (BCAS) for quantity assessment and Institute of Fuel Research and Development (IFRD) of BCSIR for quality assessment of Dhaka city wastes. According to quantity assessment (BCAS, 1998), this city generated about 5000 tons of wastes daily in 2002 and the daily generation will increase to over 15000 tons in 2021. The projection of generation upto 2021 and composition & calorific values are shown in Tables below :

  

 

 

Year

Wastes (kilo tonnes/day)

Wastes (million tonnes/yr)

2002

5.35

1.95

2003

5.65

2.06

2004

5.97

2.18

2005

6.30

2.30

2006

6.66

2.43

2007

7.03

2.57

2008

7.43

2.71

2009

7.84

2.86

2010

8.28

3.02

2011

8.75

3.19

2012

9.24

3.37

2013

9.76

3.56

2014

10.31

3.76

2015

10.89

3.97

2016

11.50

4.20

2017

12.15

4.43

2018

12.83

4.68

2019

13.55

4.95

2020

14.31

5.22

2021

15.11

5.52

 

Source: BCAS (1998)

 

Contents

Share by weight

 

Calorific Values

Btu/lb

kcal/kg

Water (moisture)

50%-70%

As received

1386-2600

770-1444

Carbon

6.02%-26.06%

Air dry (with moisture 5-8%)

2900-4300

1611-2389

Hydrogen

1.20%-3.53%

Oven dry

3200-6200

1833-3444

 

Source :  IFRD (1998) and the Mission’s calculation

 

It is seen from these Tables that, although daily generation is large (5350 tonnes in 2002 and projected to rise to 15,110 tonnes in 2021), water content is rather high (60-70%). The ADB Mission, reviewing the state-of-the-art of available technologies and analyzing the quantity and quality of wastes recommends that landfill technology is the best choice for Dhaka city wastes.

 

Description of the Selected technology

1)         50 digesters, 8500m3 capacity each, are constructed.

2)         20-MW capacity generator is installed.

3)         Generated electricity is fed into the national grid thus displacing equivalent power generation based on natural gas by BPDB.

4)         Fresh wastes containing all the components including the recyclables such as metals, glasses, etc. will be fed into the digesters. After digestion, when the digested materials will be dug out, scavengers with necessary safety measures will be employed to pick up the recyclable materials. After anaerobic digestion, the residue becomes completely odourless and mostly germ-free. The sorted-out residue will be disposed of for land filling.

5)         Methane produced in otherwise open dumping will be trapped and burnt for power generation

6)         With the project activity, total yearly CO2 production is 153, 670 tonnes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Flow diagramme for the selected process

 

 

 

  

 

GHG (CO2 equivalent) Production without (Series 2) and with (Series 1) the project activity

 

 

 

 

 

Yearly Total Production of CO2 Equivalent from the Matuail Site and 20-MW Power Plant Based on Natural Gas in the Absence of Project Activity

 

 

Yearly Production of CO2 from 20-MW Power Plant

=

101,092

Tonnes

Yearly Production from the Matuail Dumping Site (With daily unloading of 5000 tonnes of Wastes)

=

1,183,076

Tonnes

Total

=

1,284,168

Tonnes

 

 

 

Yearly Total Reduction of CO2 Equivalent in the Presence of Project Activity

 

i)

Yearly total production of CO2 equivalent in the absence of the project activities

 

1,284,168

Tonnes

ii)

Yearly total production of CO2 with the project activity

=

153,630

Tonnes

 

 

=

1,130,538

Tonnes

 

  

 

 

  

 

Financial Aspects (MSWEE)

 

Base case

Investment cost            :           1573.66 million Taka

Annual operating cost :           61.8 million Taka

IRR       :           –6%

NPV (at 10%)    :           -77.57 million Taka

B-C Ratio (at 10%)        :           0.81

 

 

 

 

 

Financial Analysis with Carbon Benefit (1.13 million tons of CO2 Reduction per annum) -MSWEE

With 5 dollars per ton of CO2

IRR       =          84.02%

NPV (at 10%)    =          2136.99 million Taka

B-C ratio (at 10%)          =          6.2

 

with 3 dollars per ton of CO2

IRR       =          54.73%

NPV (at 10%)    =          1251.79 million Taka

B-C ratio (at 10%)          =          4.4

 

 

 

Project benefits (MSWEE)

 

 

 

 

Issues

Explanation

Local Environmental Benefits

-           Local air quality will be improved.

-           The project will deliver more electricity to the grid
            reducing
            load shedding

-           The project will help solve waste disposal problem

Socio-economic Benefits

-           The project will lead to employment generation.

-           The project will improve the quality of life of
            people living in
            areas adjacent to the project site.

Capacity Building

-           This project will be a first CDM project in the
            country and thus help capacity building related to
            CDM projects.

Issues

Explanation

Technology Transfer

-           This will be a new technology in the region
            and as such successful implementation will
            result in replication leading to further
            emission reduction.

Host Country Criteria

-           GOB is still in the process of defining
            requirements for CDM projects.

Government Priority

-           This project is in the priority list of GOB and
            has already been placed under MOEF.

EIA

-           EIA will be carried out as per Law.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Other Economic and Social Benefits

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 10.2: BCR at different biogas plant sizes and sale of products
 (e = 4.71 Tk/kWh, g = 300 Tk/connection, f = 0.80 Tk/kg)