The state-run BPDB inked a deal with Southern Solar Power Ltd (SSPL) Monday to purchase around 200 megawatt (MW) of solar electricity.
The Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) will purchase the electricity from SSPL for 20 years on ‘no electricity, no payment basis’ under the agreement.
The tariff has been fixed at US 17 cents per unit (1 kilowatt-hour).
The SSPL would build the solar-based power plant at Teknaf in Cox’s Bazar within next 18 months.
State Minister for the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources (MPEMR) Nasrul Hamid was the chief guest at the deal signing ceremony at Mukti Hall in the city.
There is no ‘capacity payment’ to the plant sponsor if BPDB does not purchase electricity from the plant.
Currently, the power board has to pay the capacity charge to the sponsors of oil-fired rental and quick-rental power plants even if it does not purchase electricity from them.
Speaking on the occasion Nasrul Hamid said the government has planned to encourage electricity generation from renewable energy sources.
At present, some 434 MW of renewable electricity was being generated in the country, he said.
Approvals to build more solar electricity plants with 300 MW of capacity have already been awarded.
The proposed solar park to be built in Gaibanda and Mirersorai would expand the use of solar electricity in the country, he added.
Power secretary Dr Ahmad Kaikaus and BPDB chairman Khaled Mahmood also spoke on the occasion.
