The government has taken an initiative to install solar panels on the rooftops of offices, agencies and institutions under the Local Government Division, as well as at markets and growth centres across the country. The programme initially has an allocation of Tk 370 crore, with plans to use the generated electricity at the respective institutions and supply surplus power to the national grid.

State Minister for Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives Mir Shah Alam disclosed the information at a briefing at the Secretariat on Wednesday (September 23).

The state minister said solar panels would be installed at the headquarters and offices of the Local Government Engineering Department (LGED), city corporations, district councils, upazila councils, municipalities, union parishads, Water and Sewerage Authorities, public health engineering offices, as well as markets and growth centres across Bangladesh.

“There are 6,544 such institutions, markets and growth centres across the country. We are going to generate electricity by installing solar panels on their rooftops,” he said.

According to the state minister, funds have already been released from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) allocation for the programme, and separate letters have been sent to the concerned institutions with necessary instructions.

“We have released Tk 370 crore to the institutions to implement the programme by January 27,” he said.

Mir Shah Alam said a standard cost estimate had been prepared in consultation with different companies. According to the estimate submitted to the Cabinet Division, installing a rooftop solar system capable of generating 5.5 kilowatts of electricity would cost approximately Tk 3.26 lakh, subject to variation.

Based on this estimate, funds have been allocated to around 3,500 union parishads where suitable buildings are available, he said.

Regarding markets, the state minister said a portion of the funds allocated from the Upazila Development Fund for market development can be used for installing rooftop solar panels.

“Instructions have been issued separately to the upazila executive officers to use the designated funds for market development to install solar panels on the rooftops of markets and generate electricity for their own use,” he said.

The government’s target is to generate around 300 megawatts of electricity by utilising the unused rooftops of local government institutions, Mir Shah Alam said.

Of the total generation, around 150MW will be used by the institutions themselves, while the remaining 150MW will be supplied to the national grid through net metering under the government’s renewable energy programme.

The state minister said surplus electricity would be supplied to the national grid at Tk 10.50 per unit under the net-metering arrangement.

“Based on our calculations, if the institutions supply their surplus electricity to the national grid at Tk 10.50 per unit, the expenditure incurred for installing the solar systems will be recovered within three to four years,” he said.