Joint efforts to set up 300MW solar power plant

Two local garment exporters, a private Saudi Arabian company and state-run Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) are planning to jointly set up a solar power plant with a generation capacity of 300 megawatts (MW). 

Currently the country's biggest solar power plant generates 200MW of electricity. Built by Beximco Power Ltd in Sundarganj upazila of Gaibandha with an investment of $300 million, it was inaugurated on August 2.

The upcoming plant is expected to be constructed on 900 acres of land in Rampal of Bagerhat, some 220 kilometres southwest of capital Dhaka, at a cost of $430 million.

Of the entities, Viyellatex Group and Comfit Composite Knit Ltd will each own a 15 percent share and ACWA Power of Saudi Arabia 45 percent. The BPDB will own 25 percent providing just the land.

Viyellatex Group terms itself an end-to-end apparel solution provider, having an annual turnover of $400 million.

Offering similar services, Comfit Composite Knit Ltd is a concern of Youth Group and its sister concerns are Petromax Refinery Ltd, Shahjibazar Power Company Limited, Midland Power Company Limited and Midland East Power Ltd, according to the group's website.

ACWA Power describes itself as a developer, investor and operator of power generation and desalinated water plants with 75 assets in operation, construction or advanced development across 12 countries. Its portfolio, with an investment value of $79.4 billion, can generate 50.1 GW of power and produce 7.6 million m3 /day of desalinated water.

Electricity generation is expected to begin by the end of 2025, KM Rezaul Hasanat, chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of Viyellatex Group, told The Daily Star over the phone.

The government will buy the electricity at 10.20 cents per kilowatt hour (kWh) for 20 years, he said.

The electricity generated can power 5 lakh homes or 60-70 large composite mill, contributing $6 billion to $7 billion to the economy a year, he added.

It can also offset carbon or CO2 emission by 450,000 tonnes per year although the country's per capita CO2 emission is very low (0.52MT/capita), he said.

The power price rate is quite high compared to that in countries in the Middle East and Africa, where it is 2 cents to 3 cents per kWh, due to some reasons, explained Hasanat.

Land lease or acquisition and development cost accounts for almost 30 percent of the cost of the project having an economic life of 20 years, sun intensity is 40 percent less, lending cost is higher while the tax on solar panel imports is 75 percent to 80 percent higher, he said.