Bangladesh recently reinstated approvals for 11 solar plants with a combined capacity of 918 MW after developers agreed to lower tariffs, in a move expected to save the government BDT 11.69 billion ($96.2 million) per year.
the Advisers’ Council Committee on Government Purchase said the tariff reductions will save the government BDT 11.69 billion annually in power purchase costs from these plants.
according to Power Division officials, the average tariff for the projects had been $0.11/kWh. Muhammad Fouzul Kabir Khan, adviser to the Ministry of Power, said that under the renegotiated terms, power purchase costs from the 12 power plants will decrease by about $0.03/kWh. ‘Since LNG is costly, we are focusing on generating power from solar,’ he told reporters after the meeting.
after taking office in August 2024, the current government canceled approvals for 34 power plants with a combined capacity of 5,681 MW, claiming that they had been approved through unsolicited proposals and were burdened with excessively high tariffs.
the 11 solar power plants reinstated were among those previously canceled, and the Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) will purchase electricity from all of them for 20 years.