Bangladesh depends heavily on gas and oil for electricity generation. Experts have been pressing for diversification of energy source. There is a hydroelectric power plant in Chittagong Hill Tracts but that can generate only two hundred and thirty megawatts of electricity and there is a coal operated power plant in northern part of Bangladesh which is also a small power plant. Oil is an expensive option and Bangladesh is running out of gas.
Government has started importing electricity from neighboring country India. But Bangladesh is becoming dependant on its neighbor. Though the government is setting up some imported coal operated power plants but that has triggered protest from the environmentalists.
Some academics have been arguing that Bangladesh should eye on renewable energy like solar and wind power. But solar power is expensive. On the other hand some experts are doubtful that whether Bangladesh has enough potential for wind power. The country lacks constant wind flow.
In this situation two foreign and a local company has jointly taken a project to set up a 60 megawatt power plant in the Cox’s Bazaar coastal belt. There will be thirty to thirty five wind turbines and each of which will generate two megawatts of electricity. Its operation will begin by May next year. Bangladesh has more than seven hundred kilometers long coastal belt and it can be a great source of green energy in future, say experts.
