Budget sidelines renewables

Surprisingly, this year's budget has not allocated sufficient funds to produce the planned 800megawatts (MW) of electricity by 2015 from renewable sources. Industry experts generally concur that the Tk400 crore allocation in the budget is not adequate to attain the set target. As pointed out in the Bangladesh Economic Review 2014, current power generation from various renewable technologies including solar, stands at a little less than 400MW. What is interesting to note here is that the government will have to spend an estimated Tk9,000 crore to generate the additional 436MW over the next 18 months if it wishes to stick to its plan.
The 363.8MW that has so far been installed involved the private sector, which invested anywhere between 50 and 60 percent of project cost, with the remainder coming from the government. Hence, the question arises, precisely why such a measly portion of the estimated cost has been allocated in the current fiscal? Are we then to assume that renewables are no longer a priority area, or that the project completion timetable has been revised?
Whatever may be the thinking behind this move, it is obvious that reaching 800MW from renewables is not achievable by 2015 with this fund. And that is a pity, since many renewable technologies have become viable sources of generating electricity, particularly in off-grid areas. In rural and remote areas, application of solar rooftops and biogas must not be ruled out as viable sources of alternative energy generation. Clearly, a rethink at policy level is called for.