100MW solar power plant gets nod
The government has approved a proposal to set up a 100-megawatt solar-based power plant in Mymensingh's Gouripur upazila.
A consortium of Chinese Xizi Clean Energy Equipment Manufacturing Co Ltd and local firms Cassiopea Fashion Ltd and Cassiopea Apparels Ltd will build the plant.
The nod came at a meeting of the cabinet committee on purchase in the secretariat.
Bangladesh Power Development Board will buy electricity at around $0.10 per kilowatt-hour for 20 years.
After a huge criticism about the country's low-level of electricity production from renewable resources, the government has started approving a good number of solar plants.
In September, the purchase committee approved three solar projects to be set up in Dinajpur, Bandarban and Feni, with the combined capacity of 370MW.
Currently, renewables account for two percent of Bangladesh's installed power generation capacity. The country has a target to raise it to 30 percent by 2030.
At yesterday's meeting, the 55MW gas-based rental power plant in Ashuganj received a five-year extension under the policy of "No Electricity No Pay".
The sponsor company -- Precision Energy Ltd -- will get Tk 1,205 crore from the government as production cost for the next five years. Per unit electricity will cost $0.057.
According to the meeting minutes, Switzerland's TotalEnergies Gas & Power Ltd will supply next month's consignment of liquefied natural gas to be sourced from the global spot market. The super-chilled fuel will be priced at $16.34 per million British thermal unit.
The cabinet committee also gave its nod to several more purchase proposals.
The food ministry will import 50,000 tonnes of wheat from UAE's Grainflower DMCC at a cost of Tk 162.95 crore while the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) will spend Tk 140.99 crore to import 1.10 crore litres of soybean oil from India.
The TCB will import around 10,000 tonnes lentils at a cost of Tk 150 crore from India and will purchase around 15,000 tonnes lentils from the local market at Tk 150 crore.
Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation will procure 90,000 tonnes urea fertiliser at a total cost of Tk 3,784 crore.