Staff Correspondent:
\nTeesta Solar Limited, a subsidiary of the Beximco Group, has commenced power generation and transmission to the national grid on a trial basis.
\nOnce fully operational, the 200 MW plant in Gaibandha will be the country’s largest solar-based power station, bigger than the 134.3 MW plant of Energon Renewables Ltd, a concern of the industrial conglomerate Orion Group, in Mongla.
\nThe Teesta Solar plant has been generating power on a trial basis since 6 December last year and continues to supply power to the national grid, sources told The Business Standard (TBS). However, the project has yet to receive approval for commercial operation.
\nWhen asked, Nirod Chandra Mondal, joint secretary (Renewable Energy) at Power Division, told TBS, “We have learnt that the plant is supplying electricity to the grid for over a month now but not sure of whether it was given approval for commercial operation.”
\nThe project is a crucial solution to the power crisis in the northern region, which is facing challenges due to its dependence on imported primary fuels and the pressure it places on the country’s forex reserves.
\nHowever, the cost of electricity per unit at this plant, which is $0.15 per kilowatt hour, is a matter of concern as it is expected to increase the revenue deficit of the Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) due to its high purchase cost.
\nThe BPDB has signed a 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with Tessta Solar Limited to buy electricity from this plant.
\nDespite several attempts, The Business Standard could not get any comment from either Beximco or BPDB on this matter.
\nBeximco raised around $400 million through green Sukuk bonds, sharia-compliant bonds, to build the project on 600 acres of land at Latshal in Sundarganj upazila of Gaibandha district. A portion of these funds also went towards the group’s 30-megawatt solar power plant in the northern district of Panchagarh.
\nThe Tessta Solar Limited project faced delays due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the global economic crisis following the Russia-Ukraine war. Shipping of construction materials and equipment from abroad was interrupted.
\nLongi Solar supplied HI-MO 5 series modules \u2013 an overall superior solar module when considering durability attributes \u2013 to the plant, while a consortium of Rays Power Infra and Zetwerk Manufacturing Businesses provided engineering, procurement, construction, commissioning, operation and maintenance services.
\nAs of now, Bangladesh’s total power generation capacity stands at 26,700 MW \u2013 3.5% or 957.67 megawatts from renewable energy sources.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Staff Correspondent: Teesta Solar Limited, a subsidiary of the Beximco Group, has commenced power generation and transmission to the national grid on a trial basis. Once fully operational, the 200 MW plant in Gaibandha will be the country’s largest solar-based power station, bigger than the 134.3 MW plant of Energon Renewables Ltd, a concern of the industrial conglomerate Orion Group, in Mongla. The Teesta Solar plant has been generating power on a trial basis since 6 December last year and continues to supply power to the national grid, sources told<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":112,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"limit_modified_date":"","last_modified_date":"","rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-111","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyenglishtimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyenglishtimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyenglishtimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyenglishtimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyenglishtimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=111"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dailyenglishtimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":113,"href":"https:\/\/dailyenglishtimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111\/revisions\/113"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyenglishtimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/112"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyenglishtimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=111"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyenglishtimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=111"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyenglishtimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=111"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}