Prime Minister Tarique Rahman has said the National Parliament will come under a solar power system within the next few months as the government moves to meet its electricity demand through renewable energy.
He made the remarks during the question-and-answer session of Parliament on Wednesday (2 September) afternoon.
The prime minister said the government is also working to encourage greater use of renewable energy among the public. To facilitate the installation of solar power systems, conditional exemptions have been granted on customs duty, regulatory duty, supplementary duty, advance tax and the additional 2% advance income tax applicable to products such as solar panels, inverters and batteries.
The Internal Resources Division issued a notification to this effect on 8 June, he said.
The premier said the government would purchase electricity from those installing rooftop solar systems within the next six months and supplying the generated power to the national grid at Tk10.50 per unit.
The government would provide the amount above the bulk electricity rate as an incentive, he said.
According to the prime minister, the average cost of generating each unit of electricity from rooftop solar would be Tk6–7, creating an opportunity for entrepreneurs to earn a profit of up to 45%.
He said the Tk10.50-per-unit purchase rate would remain effective for three years for rooftop solar systems installed within the next six months and connected to the government’s power-selling arrangement.
In other words, electricity generated by rooftop solar systems installed within the stipulated period would be purchased by the government at the fixed rate for the following three years, he said.
Rahman said a National Rooftop Solar Programme had been launched to install rooftop solar systems on government buildings, educational institutions, hospitals and other important facilities.
A guideline had also been prepared to implement the programme, while special allocations had already been made for various ministries, divisions and government agencies, he said.
The prime minister added that initiatives had been taken to install rooftop solar systems at the offices of all district commissioners and divisional commissioners across the country.
He also said the government had drawn up a 10-year plan for the energy and power sector.
“Some studies and assessments are currently underway,” he said, adding that the power and energy minister would present the plan to Parliament shortly.
