Tuesday 1 July 2014

Extra $78.4m for renewable energy in Bangladesh

The World Bank is lending an additional $78.4 million (£45.7m) to support a renewable energy programme in Bangladesh.

The Rural Electrification and Renewable Energy Development II (RERED II) project aims to install 480,000 more solar home systems (SHS) in off-grid areas in the country.

Currently only 42% of the people in rural Bangladesh have access to electricity and the SHS programme is installing more than 70,000 solar systems every month. The World Bank, along with other development partners, have so far supported the installation of three million systems.

Arastoo Khan, Additional Secretary, Economic Relations Division, Government of Bangladesh said: “The benefits of using solar homes systems include increased study time for children, empowerment of women through knowledge from TV viewing, income generation from mobile phone recharging services as well as contribution to emissions reduction as a result of kerosene replacement.”