Energy security is not a privilege, but a fundamental right that should be accessible to all individuals on an equitable basis, with affordability and reliability, experts opine at a conference on Friday.
They said fossil fuel power plants are detrimental to public health and environmental sustainability, and as such, it is imperative that nations like Bangladesh adopt more sustainable energy sources for the greater good of their citizens.
The observations were made on the second day of the Bangladesh energy prosperity 2050, held at the Multipurpose hall, Military Museum, Bijoy Soroni in the capital.
The 2nd of the conference hosted six parallel sessions research presentations under thematic areas of energy mix and just transition, bilateral and multilateral cooperation, environment and social issues and financial and institutional arrangements.
Research presentations in the sessions finds that fossil fuel-based power generation in Bangladesh is unsustainable and unacceptable considering value chain, policy chain and emission chain.
It finds Bangladesh’s power sector’s performance is extremely poor and economically nonviable while renewable energy is being generated 97.8% successfully and the cheapest option.
The first session was on review of fossil fuel power systems,highlighting the economic efficiency and quality of fossil fuel power plants in Bangladesh and the value chain in the power sector. The session was chaired by Dr. Kazi Maruful Islam, Professor, Department of Development Studies, University of Dhaka, and Convener, BWGED.
Abul Kalam Azad from ActionAidBangladesh, Shahriar Ahmed Chowdhury from SOLISPower &Energy Limited and Sarmin Akter Bristy from CLEAN presented at this session. Ahsan Adelur Rahman, MP, Member of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Estimates, and Member of Climate Parliament Bangladesh was the Guest of Honor for this session.
Ahsan Adelur Rahman mentioned, “Bangladesh’s power sector is heavily reliant on fossil fuel and spending billions of dollars. We must promote cooperation among policymakers and CSOs at the policy level and ensure investments to realize 100% renewable in this country.”
Shakila Aziz, Chairman of SOLIS power & energy, chaired the session. Munira Chowdhury from Market Forces, Donna Marie Lisen by from River fox Environmental, and Shafiqul Alam from Institute for Energy Economics And Financial Analysis (IEEFA) provided their presentations.
Mir Mostaque Ahmed Robi MP, Member of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief and Member, of Climate Parliament Bangladesh, was the Guest of Honor.
MostaqueAhmed Robi stated, "Bangladesh needs to take strategies towards 100% electrification and MCPP should be the guiding pathway for rapid transition towards greener Bangladesh.”
Other thematic areas were “potentials of renewable energy,” where experts discussed renewable energy policies, highlighting opportunities and challenges. The session was chaired by Dr. QaziZahedIqbal, Advocate, Supreme Court of Bangladesh. Mashfiq Ahasan Hridoy from the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), Shakila Aziz from SOLIS Power &Energy Ltd. and Dipal Chandra Barua provided their speech.