Electricity generation
When the world is facing tremendous shortfall in fossil fuel supply and when the world is concerned about saving itself from the green house effect and billions of dollars are spent for keeping the world safe and habitable, as a third world underdeveloped country we often chop down trees, burn kerosene for cooking etc. Why don't we consider building an offshore power plant in the shallow waters of the Bay of Bengal. This could be the wind based power plant, which most of the Eastern European countries are using these days to generate electricity.
Since Bangladesh is in dire need of electricity and setting up a hydro, gas, diesel or coal power plant is not an easy task and also time consuming, why not take up the wind based power plant which takes lesser time in construction and can be installed at the shallow waters of the Bangladesh coast in the sea without much of a problem. According to reports, a 1,200 megawatt capacity wind power project will take roughly 10-12 months to install on land but since we already have shortage of land in the country due to the booming population this can be installed in the sea also which will take probably 24 months to operate. An area of only 17sqkm is required for generating 1,200 megawatt of electricity.
The project will be eco-friendly and the country can attract foreign investments in this particular sector and eventually other sectors when uninterrupted power supply can be ensured.
Bangladesh, which needs foreign aid to finance modernization of different projects/units of the country, can attract foreign investment in billions of dollars for this wind based power plant as they do in Eastern Europe. Since the crude oil price is unstable and the stock is limited, the wind power for production of electricity will probably be the ultimate power generation system the world will look for. With the existing gas, coal and under discussion nuclear power plant, the country can overnight become self sufficient in electricity and can export it to the neighbouring countries which will certainly help in generating foreign currency also.
Bangladesh, which relies mainly on gas, coal and hydro based energy for its electricity production, is lagging behind its neighbours in attracting foreign investments . As a country Bangladesh can also reduce dependency on oil imports from the Middle East, keeping in mind the on going conflict in the region, especially the future threats on Iran and Venezuela by the United States on the nuke and political issues.
When the world is facing crises on natural gas and crude oil and the prices of both these natural resources are going rocket high, as a developing country, we should invest in the wind power for generating electricity to battle the ever increasing demand.
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