Bangladesh could save between $600 million and $900 million in foreign exchange annually by transitioning its one million diesel-run irrigation pumps to solar power, according to Shafiqul Alam, chief energy analyst at the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA).
Speaking to a local daily, he warned that while solar adoption has crossed the 500MW mark, the nation is failing to harvest “low-hanging fruit” due to structural barriers.
He noted that the massive savings from solar irrigation – calculated on pre-Middle East war diesel prices – remain locked behind a lack of farmer equity and the absence of a seasonal “irrigation-to-grid” business model.
“The real barriers are not technical; they are financial and structural,” Shafiqul said, emphasizing that for eight months of the year, these systems sit idle.
He argued that allowing farmers to feed excess power back into the grid would transform the sector’s viability, provided utilities become more accommodative.
To build immediate momentum, Shafiqul proposed that the government mandate a seven-day approval window for net-metering connections through a one-stop service.
He observed that utilities must become more flexible, as rooftop solar reduces the state’s reliance on costly furnace oil during daylight hours.
