The centre will have a size of 25 m  x 15 m with an approx. 233 m2  as working space while the 375 m2 will be constructed (roofed only) as used space. There will be several rooms, one canteen and one workshop and the mentioned free space used for multiple purposes (please see the floor plan in the Picture Gallery). The rooms will be used for working, training and dissemination of RE-related information purpose. The workshop will be used for practical construction of products by trainees during the training. There will be 5 workplaces equipped with construction machineries (circular saw, stamping machine, turning lathe, E-welding, drill, compressed air pistol etc.) and with working tables for each. Some 15 trainees (3 persons in a group) will work at a time in the workshop during the training period and learn to construct and assemble different models of solar energy production system among others.

The very simple local construction methods will be used to build the centre. Supporting with some steel pillars in every 5 m distance within all the major boundaries to form the lattice structure on which the photovoltaic modules will be installed, the roof of this centre will be constructed as monopitch roof with an inclination of 5° covered with the corrugated sheet. The construction work of the centre and the installation of modules could be done parallel immediate after the competition of fundament of the centre. 

The Ambassador and Head of Delegation of the European Commission to Bangladesh, Dr. Stefan Frowein, visited the construction site of the solar centre in Khulna on the 20.05.2008.   

Pictures of the foundation stone ceremony online:

The ceremony was organised by the KCC and visited by local authorities, representatives of the government and representatives of the project participants. 

The diagram gives an overview of the planned activities and progression of the PRE Project.

Activity 1: Preparation and Kick-off 

An initial visit of the applicant and the European partners to Bangladesh will establish a team to ensure a detailed and careful project planning and implementation. During this visit the partners will finalise the drafted implementation plan to realise the project. Finally a meeting will be organised at KHULNA. At this meeting a workshop will be organised and the representatives from local government, enterprises, industrial bodies, power production authorities, academies, financing institutions and the European partners will be brought together to discuss and to draft a policy and plan for setting national/regional partnership and partnership with European counterpart to introduce the RE-based power generation as an alternative and sustainable energy source into all categories of consumers in KHULNA division. Besides an advisory committee will be formed from all these representatives who will accompany the planned project during the whole period. They will meet time to time to find and formulate a strategy to purse this technology to potential consumers as well as to check subsidizing/ interest free credit facility to buy such a system by SMEs. A memory of understanding between all the partner will be signed in this action. The selected site for the pilot plants and for the centre will also be visited during this activity. In addition another meeting will be organised within the partners for a detail discussion about baseline survey and planning of pilot plants as well as of workshop cum training centre. The result of this meeting will lead to the concrete survey objectives and design as well as to the precise and detail planning of the planned construction objects. The exact design and drawing for both the construction objectives will be completed within this activity and all the pre-work will be done to begin with the implementation of construction objectives.

Activity 2: Baseline Survey as well as Planning of Workshop cum Training Centre and Pilot Plants    

In this activity the survey tools related to the stated survey objectives and design will be developed. The survey is necessary to find out mainly

• the energy consumption of SME of different sectors, particularly during the supply-off period
• an average energy consumption of urban households with all the used equipments
• the technical capability and knowledge of those SME who should be selected for training purpose
• the ways of financing and subsidising possibility for acquisition of a RE-based power generating system

So the survey concept will consist of a theoretical and a practical part. The theoretical part will deal with systematic analysis of existing concepts and guidelines of governmental bodies, financing institutions, micro-credit organisations etc. for the clarification of financing (subsidizing, credit among others) possibilities for potential consumers. The practical part will comprise the interrogation of SME and urban households to visualise their daily energy needs in corresponding to the used equipments, machineries etc. with adequate survey tools. These tools will include questionnaires, in-person interview etc. among others. For the construction of questionnaires the questionnaires have to be developed. The primary purpose of these questions will be to meet the objectives of the survey. This interview-statement will be analysed, shaped and finally integrated into the survey report. Besides regular shortage of power supply will be recorded to specify average needs of power of different consumers during the supply-off period.

The result of this survey will give a clear statement of the quantity of energy consumption of the investigated groups, the power capacity and formation of used equipments, machineries etc., the exact needs of energy of each group to overcome the power shortage period and the number of potential and interested enterprise who could / will take part in the training course. The survey result will also lead to state the size of pilot plants will be constructed as marketable (demo) products for three potential consumers:

• urban household
• small-sized enterprise / families-apartment-house
• medium-sized enterprise

In addition to the above mentioned activities a public web-site will also be created (then regularly updated) to inform different stakeholders, committee members, partners etc.

Activity 3: Setup Workshop cum Training Centre in KHULNA  

A workshop and training centre will be set up during this activity which will begin parallel to the former Activity 2. The setup of this centre is necessary to underline the significance of the alternative way of generating power using RE will be needed to qualify SME and will support to build a new consciousness among all the stakeholders. This centre, is quasi a production centre of RE also, will be used for multiple purposes, namely as working, learning and training place as well as general RE- information centre for potential consumers, civil society, local governmental bodies, educational institutions etc. Such a centre will also bring enterprises, potential consumers, academics, local governments and civil society together.

The counterpart KCC will construct the centre on their own land in close consultation with the applicant. The local governmental head authority KCC equipped with the experienced staffs and necessary logistics will be able to complete the centre within the foreseen period. The centre will belong to KCC after the end of the project and will be used for the continuation for the defined purposes.   

Activity 4: Setup Pilot Plants in KHULNA

In this activity the designed pilot plants will be installed. The photovoltaic modules of the plants could be installed parallel to the construction work of the centre, immediate after the completion of fundament of the centre. This photovoltaic-based 20 KWp plants will consist of three different sizes. The exact size will be determined and designed on the basis of the survey report and will correspond to the different consumer’s need. The installed plant will cover multiple purposes:

for decentralized production and supply of electrical energy for the use of the workshop and training centre for demonstration of the different production-size plants for three different potential consumer for practice-oriented teaching and training for SME and unemployed youth These three plants will be installed over the roof of the workshop and training centre in such a manner that the produced energy will cover the three different energy consumption areas of the centre. For example 1KW for supply of the office and Info room, 4KW for Training rooms and canteen and 15KW for the workshop. This will demonstrate the different production capacities of the photovoltaic (PV) systems and sizes three marketable products to foreseen consumer groups. These demo plants will be an example to show the requirements and the alternative energy production ways to fulfil the energy demand of an urban household, a small-seized enterprise or a multi-stored urban house as well as of a medium-sized industrial production plant during the supply-off period. The installed plants will be composed on the basis of photovoltaic modules. These modules will be based on cadmium and tellurium (CdTe), a product of thin film technologies, even if it is not much known like silicon crystal technology with its variation of mono or polycrystalline formation. The selection of this increased upcoming CdTe technology has basically been made on the following three reasons:

CdTe permits simple device structures and processes, leading to low cost production and therefore is cheaper than the others which is an important factor for developing countries like Bangladesh abundant raw CdTe material (by-products of mining process; primarily zinc mining and copper refining) to support high volume production and demand and therefore is easily available and promising for future the produced energy amount by CeTd lies higher under real condition than solar modules with comparable powered ratings as because of its lower temperature-coefficient (producing comparatively more amount of energy by increased temperature of the modules than the others) which is another important factor for the country Bangladesh as normal temperature rises in summer more than 40° C.

A standard size of CdTe module in 1129cm x 934cm with the producing power range of 80Wp will be considered for the plants. About 250 modules will be needed to produce the intended amount of power, 20 KWp. Further this module will occupy 263m2 space on the roof of the centre (375m2) will be also available. The counterpart KCC has different places/sites to install such plants and the training centre. But the centre and this plants will be setup and installed by the headquarter of the KHULNA division, that is, within the area of KHULNA city [Estimated population (2000) 1.2 million and number of households 190,000], because of her existing communication, transportation, administrational and organisational infrastructure which let easily access of people from all other districts. Thus the place of the workshop and training centre is the same where this demo plants will also be installed. The PV plant will be installed by a sub-contractor under the coordination of applicants and consultation with all the partners. Such a sub-contractor will be a specialized European enterprise who is dealing with the RE-based technique and technology and an expert to install production plants on the basis of photovoltaic modules. The sub-contractor wills wind-up all the necessary steps, namely acquisition of modules, transport, installation and start-up of the plants. The sub-contracting of all those mentioned activities foreseen for subcontractor is necessary for the implementation of the planned project. This is only the way to mobilize the technique and know-how related to the installation methods of solar modules, energy inverting technique and technology etc which can’t be secured through the participating partners. The installed plants upon the roof of the workshop and training centre will be hand over to KCC after the end of the project for continuation of teaching and training and for general RE-related information to potential consumers and civil society.

Activity 5: Curriculum Development 

In this activity the partners will develop the concept of the training course and its content which will focus on the following subject areas: 

 The issue of course concept development is very crucial considering its relevance and its appropriateness to practice- and product orientation of learning on the one side and the inhomogeneous learners group on the other. While one group, the trainer are familiar with the theoretical information of RE-related technique and technology, needs more practical training, the other group, namely the trainees (SME representatives) needs both the theoretical information and practical working on it. Considering both these groups two separate curriculum of different standard will be developed. In addition to it a didactical concept for the trainers will also be developed. It will be necessary to develop of two different directions of courses with its corresponding contents and learning materials. While first part of the course would have more emphasis on the RE-related technique and technology, the second part will consist of more on RE-based Product Configuration and Marketing Methods. The aim of this courses will be to upgrade the skills and capabilities of SME representatives through a practical training of trainers first and then through continuous training of SME representatives by the trained trainers. Both the partners will discuss and harmonise all the findings during this development process through net-meeting time to time.

Activity 6: Training of Trainers 

The training of trainers on site is important to impart the practical European know-how and knowledge of RE- related technique and technology so that the trained trainers achieve the ability to train the SME representatives and others after their training. The”Train of Trainers (TOT)”course will be open to the group consists of teachers form polytechnics, colleges as well as trainer and master craftsman from industries. The course will be conducted in two shifts 4 hours each and 5 days a week and have a duration of 2 months. Two European experts will conduct this course.

After the end of this course, 4 best trained trainers will be selected for running the next course for SME representatives. The selected trainers will be closely involved in the design of the curriculum of the training course for SME representatives in order to understand fully its underlying pedagogical and didactical approach. This will allow them to make modifications in the future, once the project has finished and they haven taken over the responsibility to continue the training course.

Activity 7: Training of SME

The training of SME representatives will be beginning in this activity. The potential and interested SME pre-selected from the survey results will be invited to join the course. The course will take 2 weeks, 5 days per week with two shifts, 4 hours each. This shift-concept will allow the SME representative to join the course and work in their enterprise at the same time. The course will run for 1 year during the duration of this project, will be conducted by 4 local trained trainers and will continue after the end of this project. The training will be free of cost during the project period. They will learn and get trained by the practice- and product-oriented method. This learning and training method will allow the target group to configure, develop, install and market a product which could be offered as a marketable product to the potential consumers.   

Activity 8: Course Evaluation & Modification 

After the 6 months running of the course for SME an evaluation will be made. Questionnaires will be developed for trainers and trainees to asses the relevance and appropriateness of the different course contents. They will also be interviewed to find out their concerned issues about the participated course. The result of all these will be integrated into the existing curriculum and help to improve the training. Especially local belongings will be considered in the evaluation.  

Activity 9: Project Evaluation 

The project will be evaluated in this activity. This evaluation will be made by an independent evaluator. All the milestones of the project will be verified and commented.

Activity 10: Dissemination and Exploitation  

Finally the project will enter into the ‘dissemination phase’, where the result of the project will largely available through an information seminar for all the stakeholders. Dissemination of the project results is seen as an important element in this action. This one day event will consist of demonstrations, lectures and experience report from SME and consumers. This seminar, which will be organized by the Asian partner will bring representatives from municipalities, financing institutions, power production authorities, academics and consumers together will discuss techniques, tools and skills necessary for SME to become active players on the national market to promote RE-bases power generation system. It will also deal with the financing and marketing aspects of such systems. The participating companies will take active part to demonstrate and discuss their ideas and experiences in this seminar. It will further reported about the formed partnerships (if any) to underline the necessity of joint co-operation with the European partners and regional partnership to promote this new energy resources for the long term perspective.    

Activity 11: Coordination, Management and (internal) Evaluation 

Co-ordination, management and (internal) evaluation of the project are three tasks that are active throughout the project. The co-ordination and the day-to-day management will be done by the applicant who has extensive experience in managing international projects. The internal evaluation will be done time to time by a board comprising all the partners. Co-ordination encompasses tasks like

          All financial matters

          Communication with the EC, including the submission of all project deliverables

          Organisation of the evaluation of the project

          Organisation of the project meetings

The tasks of the project management are:

          Progress monitoring and reporting

          Operational contingencies

          Minutes of project meetings

          Preparation of the Final Report

Schedule Year 2 :

For the promotion of sustainable PV systems a demonstration plant will be installed. Therefore a special building will be constructed, which will serve as an information and training centre with an associated workshop for modern and practical training and work processes. The main objectives of this solar centre are the set up of an innovative education centre for sustainable energy, the housing of an information centre for renewable energy and location for a demonstration PV plant. The centre will be build on land owned by KCC and will constitute a contact and information point for the application of renewable energy in the region.

The PV Unit oft he Solar Center in Khulna is already installed and generating elecrtical energy by the power of the sun. Follow the links to see the daily energy production of the unit.

Plant data: Khulna Solar Production and Training Centre. This project is co-financed by the European Commission and coordinated by University Bremen, Germany

Plant name: Solar-training center Khulna Bangladesh
 - Plant location: Khulna Bangladesh
 - Plant size: 20 kWp
 - Celestial orientation:South-south-west
 - Module inclination: 20 Grad
 - Number of counters: 3
 - Plant start: Februar 2009
 - Project Coordinator: Dr. Engineer Bibhuti Roy, University Bremen, Germany
 - Technical Information: Dipl. Ing. Christian Gnirke

Plant picture: Khulna Solar Production and Training Centre Bangladesh

Results

 07.11.2007

The project website Solarenergy-Khulna.eu is online. The web site presents all information of the project, news and the achieved results. In the download area it is possible to download several documents dep ending to the project. In the restricted area the projct partner can find or present important documents for the project progress.

Baseline survey

15.01.2008

The baseline survey finished. The Task of Activity Nr 2 the accomplishment of an baseline Survey to determine the real needs of energy of people in Khulna is finished. A detailed report has been written and is published in the website .

The baseline survey was initialised by the project coordinator ITB and planed in cooperation with KCC. The survey was locally accomplished by the  Khulna University of Engineering & Technology (KUET) under responsibility of Prof. Dr. A. N. M. Mizanur Rahman, Prof. Dr. Mihir Ranjan Halder Prof. Dr. Md. Nurunnabi Mollah.

The baseline survey should answer four important question s for the project.

1. the energy consumption of SMEs of different sectors, particularly during the power-off periods

2. an average and minimum energy consumption of urban households

3. the technical capability and knowledge of those SMEs who should be selected for training purpose  

4. the ways of financing and subsidizing possibility for acquisition of a RE-based power generating system

For the baseline questionnaires were developed and field interviews with about 450 households and small enterprises were accomplished. With the results of the baseline survey a special training programme will be developed to meet the local needs.

 Opening of tender documents

18.01.2008

The documents from the tender for the construction of the solart centre was openmed at ITB in Bremen. The documents, which were send in copy by the KCC from Khulna was openend by Dr. Bibuti Roi from ITB and Dr. Gerhard Schories from ttz. The documents are the response of the tender for the construction ork for the planned solar centre in Khulna.

The evaluation of the offers from several construction companies from Bangladesh is done in close cooperation with the KCC in Khulna.

Dissemination activities 

Workshop 31.05.2007 in Khulna 

The first workshop was accomplished during the Kick-off meeting of the project in Khulna. In the Workshop the project were presented to all project partners and involved persons, like the members of the Promotion of renewable Energy advisory board, local press and the Mayor of Khulna.  

The workshop was split into three parts. The first part dealt with the technique of solar energy and electrical storage, the second part was a discussion about the training and Qualification and the third part was about different model of financing. The workshops were moderated by project partners from ITB and ttz.         

Project presentation Workshop 24.10.2007 in Bremen 

ITB in Bremen organised a workshop for the presentation of the project to members of the institute and members of the University of Bremen. The workshop took place at the facilities of ITB at the University of Bremen. The project partners from EURAC and ttz participated in the workshop and presented their institutes and their part in the project. The workshop was visited by around 10 people from ITB and the University of Bremen.  

Curriculum development Workshop 12.02.2008 in Bremen 

A small workshop for the development of the Curriculum for the train the trainer courses was accomplished at ITB in Bremen. The workshop was organised by ITB and participated by the project partners from ttz Bremerhaven. The workshop was addressed to experts in innovative education concepts. Therefore about 8 experts from the ITB institute participated and discussed the presented draft for the curriculum.