More 1000 megawatt (MW) of electricity will be added to the national grid from renewable energy within a year to resolve the present electricity crisis.
Prime Minister's Energy Adviser Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury made the remarks while answering to the questions about the present electricity crisis to the reporters after attending an event organised by Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) on Sunday at Lakeshore Hotel in the capital.
He said, “The country-wide electricity problem will be solved within three to four months as we will bring 1,000 MW solar energy within a year.”
There was a plan to import 1500 MW power from India’s Adani Group’s Jharkhand plant and also to get 1000MW from Rampal power plant, he said.
“I expected that power from coal-based plant would come in October. But in reality, electricity will come from big power plants after 2 months and 6 months,” he further said.
“For this, we will have to wait for 3-4 months to resolve the problem as we will need more time to get electricity from those power plants, he informed. Besides, demand will decrease when winter comes”, the adviser mentioned.”
Rampal's electricity is likely to come by the end of this year and electricity from Jharkhand is likely to be available at the beginning of the year 2023, he added.
Mr Chowdhury said, there are no hope of immediate end to the existing load-shedding as the government has reduced the import of primary fuel to conserve foreign currency reserve.
“We have to cut fuel import considering the future situation as part of the plan to conserve foreign currencies,” he added.
Reiterating his call to people to be more patient and try to check misuse of power in their consumption, he said developed nations like Britain and Germany are now experiencing 4-5 hours of load-shedding.
