The government has taken initiatives to build the first solar power plant in non-arable char lands.
State owned North-West Power Generation Company Limited (NWPGC) will be constructing the 60 megawatt plant, the biggest amongst all the solar power plants in the country, people familiar with the matter said.
“Some char regions have been selected where the land is completely state-owned,” said Power Division Senior Secretary Ahmed Kaikaus before adding that these lands will be used for solar plants.
Sources at NWPGCL said that the land ministry has already leased a land at Pabna’s Shujanagar upazila for the plant.
A Power Division employee told Bangla Tribune that the government was following India’s example of using state-owned land to generate power.
“They are also giving gridlines. The entrepreneurs are only constructing the plants,” he said.
The Project Director for the plant, Engineer Mohaiminul Islam said that since the land is state owned and completely non-arable, no one will incur losses.
“We have already started developing the land. The construction will begin soon,” he said.
According to the United Nations implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), 10 percent of the power produced by the country must be renewable.
The government, however, has failed in the many approaches taken for the production of renewable power.
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of NWPGCL AM Khorshedul Alam said that they expect to start supplying power to the national grid from the new plant by next year.
He added that taking into consideration the availability of land, solar radiation, airflow and distance of grids, they have selected Pabna, Sirajganj, Gaibandha and Payra to set up plants for the production of 500 megawatt of electricity.