People of Dadra Bazar and its outlying areas would retire to their home early in the evening, as most of them had no TV sets or other forms of entertainment.

But it all started to change for the better about two years ago when the initiative of Grameen Shakti (GS) to pull villages out of darkness by electricity produced through renewable solar energy systems began to work wonders. In a short span of time, the project with assistance from the United Sates Agency for International Development (USAID) has brought about a big change in lifestyles of the villagers.

"I used to close my shop immediately after dusk, but now I keep it open until 10:00pm as the electricity now has given the people reasons to stay late at the bazaar," said Mohammed Sultan, a shopkeeper of Dadra Bazar.

The other shopkeepers echoed him and said electricity through renewable solar energy has given a huge boost to their businesses, sparing them from having to buy the increasingly costly kerosene.

"In the past, I had to spend Tk 300-Tk 400 a day for kerosene whereas now I pay only Tk 150 a month for solar energy," said Mujibur Rahman, another shopkeeper.

Currently, the GS has some 2,100 customers under Mymensingh Solar Project-1, which is providing solar electricity to 11,250 people.

As a member of the Grameen Trust, the GS was established in 1996, with the objective to promote renewable energy technology to reach electricity to the rural households.

"In the context of ever-increasing demand for energy and less availability of cheap fossil fuel, both the developed and developing countries have been seeking to harness alternative energy resources during the last decade," said Dipal C Barua, managing director of the GS.

"Seventy percent of people here do not have access to electricity, which hinders academic activities and businesses in rural Bangladesh. Besides, the electricity system of the country was solely dependent on natural fuels which are getting exhausted at an alarming pace," Barua said.

"And that is why the GS is selling and installing Solar Home System (SHS) to popularise solar energy in the rural areas to meet the crisis of energy demand."

Since the inception, the GS has so far installed in 54 districts as many as 44,000 SHS, which currently produce 10 megawatts of electricity for some 2.50 lakh people.

The GS managing director said they plan to raise the number of SHS to 1,00000 by 2007.

Gene V George, mission director of the USAID in Bangladesh, during a visit to the GS project area on Tuesday said people especially those living on the periphery could be immensely benefited from renewable solar energy system.

"The USAID has been extending its support to renewable energy program in Bangladesh for the last five years since it is a practical and environment-friendly way to providing electricity to the rural people," George added.

In a solar energy system, solar panel is the main generator, which transforms solar energy into electricity. The battery stores the electricity while a charge controller regulates the magnitude, charge, and discharge of electricity.

Barua, the GS managing director, said prices of solar systems range from Tk 12,000 to Tk 50,000 depending on their capacity.

He added the more powerful a solar system is, the higher it costs. He said a customer could buy a solar system in instalments on making a down payment of 15 percent.

For its contribution to solar energy system, the GS has so far received Energy Globe Award 2002 in Austria, European Solar Prize 2003 in Germany, Best Theme Award from the USAID Dhaka, and Solar Prize 2004 from IDCOL.