The Sustainable and Renewable Energy Development Authority (SREDA), to promote renewable energy and energy efficiency, inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Bangladesh Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) on 01 April 2021 in Dhaka. The event was attended by participants from both Bangladesh and Germany.
Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Programme (REEEP II), together with Sustainable and Renewable Energy Development Authority (SREDA), and Energy and Power magazine (Energy & Power Magazine | Home (ep-bd.com)) organised a webinar titled “Energy Efficiency Opportunities in RMG & Textile Industry” on 27 March 2021.
Energy plays a vital role in poverty eradication, economic growth and sustainable infrastructure development of any country. Development in this sector is still mostly treated as gender-neutral, based on the assumption that energy impacts men and women in similar ways - leading to gender-blind initiatives. However, women and men often have distinct variation in relation to energy production and usage patterns. Hence, whenever we talk about promoting responsible use of energy at a national scale – it is vitally important to look at the issue through a gendered lens.
Due to COVID-19 pandemic, virtual meetings are becoming the new normal for team and partner collaboration, through various virtual meeting platforms. Due to this sudden transition these virtual meetings are often run inefficiently fail to create engagement and effective participation.
The Government of Bangladesh has a target to generate 10% of electricity from renewable resources and have CO2 emission reduced by 5% by 2030 for combating the climate challenges. To realize this goal, government has taken many initiatives, including issuing a guideline for development of rooftop solar under net metering, in 2018.
As a result of negotiations between Bangladesh and German Governments held in 2018, a new technical cooperation (TC) project titled “Policy Advisory Programme for Promoting Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (PAP)” was agreed upon. The programme will commence from July 21, focusing on energy policy advice on the supply side (power generation and transmission)
Institute of Energy, University of Dhaka & GreenTech Foundation Bangladesh jointly organizes National Renewable Energy Conference & Green Expo every year. This year, the 20th annual conference theme was be “Sustainable Energy for Climate Actions: Bangladesh Perspective during Covid-19 pandemic”. Considering the current scenario, the conference was organized virtually during 24-25 June 2020.
GIZ internal sector network TUEWAS (Transport, Environment, Energy and Water in Asia) invited proposals during May 2020 for innovative and feasible ideas from its working groups (WGs), for implementation under the innovation fund. In response to the call, 7 proposals were submitted by different WGs and were voted by TUEWAS members. Amidst intense competition, the project concept of Energy Efficiency Working Group has been adjudged the joint best with another project idea that falls within transport and environment WG.
As a part of the sustainability approach, REEEP II is following up on a few technological solutions implemented in its earlier phase. Pilot plant of slaughterhouse waste -based biogas, Kathaldia, Tongi under Gazipur City Corporation (GCC) is one of the technologies. The slaughterhouse waste-based biogas plant was redesigned and renovated incorporating few parts, for example; biogas generation, biogas distribution and bio-slurry production systems in cooperation with Local Government Engineering Department (LGED), GCC and SREDA.
In October 2019 REEEP II organized a three-day training on “Energy Management and Audit System under ISO 50001:2018” for textile industry representatives. During the training participants formulated action plans to implement energy saving solutions in their respective industries. As a follow up, a meeting took place at the premises of Bangladesh Garments, Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) on 16 February 2020.
SREDA is the nodal agency for sustainable energy promotion across Bangladesh. In today’s rapidly changing socio-economic landscape, it is important for an organization to have a strategic outlook towards communication and knowledge management. In line with this target, REEEP II has provided technical support to SREDA for updating their existing Communication & Knowledge management strategy in collaboration with BCCP (Bangladesh Center for Communications Program).
The Government of Bangladesh aims to generate 10 % power from renewable resources by 2021 and reduce Carbon Dioxide emissions by 5 %. However, to date, only 3% is being generated by renewables. There is a lot to be done yet, including developing innovative technical solutions, closing the capacity gap, establishing a finance mechanism and increasing awareness of sector stakeholders. To contribute towards these timely needs, REEEP II has taken an initiative to conduct a study on Organizational Needs Assessment of Bangladesh Solar and Renewable Energy Association (BSREA).
The National Energy Efficiency and Conservation Masterplan recognizes the importance of mass awareness to trigger energy saving through behaviour change. To steer this process in a structured manner, GIZ is supporting SREDA in developing a five-year awareness raising campaign plan. The campaign will address relevant stakeholders both individually, and institutionally.
REEEP II extended its cooperation to an Asian Development Bank (ADB) Mission on development of Solar PV Road Map for Bangladesh in the field of water pumping. The mission visited at the demonstration sites of Solar Driven Drinking Water System installed in Khulna and Bagerhat from April 25-27, 2019 organized by GIZ in collaboration with SREDA. REEEP II also provided relevant knowledge products and study reports to the ADB mission.
REEEP II provided support to Bangladesh Solar and Renewable Energy Association (BSREA) in organizing a green energy conference-2019 “AMAR GRAM AMAR SHAHAR: Binirmane Nobayonjoggo Shoktir Bhumika ( My village, my city: Role of renewable energy in sustainable transformation)” on 18 April 2019 in collaboration with SREDA and Infrastructure Development Company Ltd (IDCOL).
REEEP provided technical support to SREDA in formulation and development of National Energy Audit Regulation. By default, the regulation also included a summary of course curriculum for Energy Auditor Certification program. To make the curriculum more elaborate and inclusive for Bangladesh country context, further tuning and analysis of the curriculum was required.
BRAC University organized a three-day conference on Energy & Power Engineering from March 14-16, 2019 at BRAC CDM. REEEP II supported BRAC University in organizing the event in collaboration with SREDA. Dr. Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury, Bir Bikram, Energy Advisor to Prime Minister, Government of Bangladesh was present as the Chief Guest.
REEEP II conducted an awareness workshop on solar rooftop system for the orientation of recently adopted net metering guideline to the utility WZPDCL (West Zone Power Distribution Company Limited) as well as for motivating potential investors in the region under the jurisdiction of WZPDCL.
As a part of Capacity and Organizational Development efforts of GIZ, REEEP II supported a capacity enhancement training programme for the government officials of Power Division, Bangladesh Power Development Board and SREDA in India on Floating Solar. This was organized jointly by the Indo-German Energy Forum (IGEF) and the Central Board of Irrigation and Power (CBIP) in Calicut and Banasurasagar, Kerala from 4 - 6 March 2019.
On 31 January 2019, a stakeholder event was organized to mark the completion of REEEP. The event focused on sharing the achievements, experiences and learnings gathered from REEEP with relevant stakeholders from public and private organizations and development partners. The event also served as a medium to pursue sustainability of the interventions piloted by the project, introducing the key service providers and entrepreneurs to the sector.
REEEP II organized a day long training session on roof top solar under net-metering guideline in collaboration with SREDA and NESCO (Northern Electricity Supply Company Limited). The target of the day long workshop was to inform the officials of NESCO on technical, operation & maintenance and management of the solar roof top system under the net metering guideline.
Workshop on GIZ Energy Portfolio Review was held at SREDA on 27 May 2019. Mr. Rahmatullah Md. Dastagir ndc, Additional Secretary, Planning and Renewable Energy, Power Division was present as the chief guest of the event. Dr. Angelika Fleddermann, Country Director, GIZ Bangladesh was present as special guest at the workshop. The programme started with a brief presentation on the background and GIZ Technical Cooperation in Bangladesh by the Programme Coordinator Mr. Al Mudabbir Bin Anam.
Two consecutive study visits to India took place during November 2019. The objective was to gather experience and insight from the leading public and private sustainable energy institutions of India and explore opportunities for mutual collaboration.
In October 2019, REEEP II and Energy Efficiency and Grid Integration of Renewable Energy (EEGIRE) programmes jointly supported a study visit to Ireland for Dr. Md. Ziaur Rahman Khan, Professor, Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, BUET.
In October 2019, a Senior Delegation from Bangladesh attended GIZ Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Week (REEW 2019) at Berlin, Germany, supported by REEEP II. REEW is the largest expert workshop for partners of German bilateral development cooperation in the energy sector. Since 2011, it is organised annually by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).
The objective of this study trip had been manifold – (a) to support SREDA in coordinating with comparable organizations in the region (b) to support BSREA in its organizational development and collaborate with similar organisations in China and (c) to support the Delegation to learn about floating solar technology.
Launching workshop of the Energy Efficiency in Public Buildings (EEPB) project was organized by GIZ and Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) on 5 December 2019.
The Government of Bangladesh has laid out a series of development targets for 2021 in line with its vision to establish Bangladesh as a self-sufficient developed economy by 2041. One of the targets is to generate 5% of total electricity from renewable sources by 2021.
Textile and Garment Industries of Bangladesh altogether consume a significant level of energy. The Energy Efficiency and Conservation Master Plan 2015 of the Government of Bangladesh and different energy audits conducted at textile and garment industries substantiate ample energy saving opportunities at these industries.
“Awareness is key for an energy conscious society,” was the underlying theme of the International Conference on Energy Efficiency and Conservation Awareness (ICEECA 2019) held in Dhaka on 11-12 November 2019.