Bangladesh: USD 100 Million Loans for Generating Solar Power (500,000 users by 2015)

[jpak]

http://www.energybangla.com/article_det.asp?aId=513

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Meanwhile, the World Bank is processing a 100- million dollars loan proposal to help increase the solar energy generation and expand its coverage to five lakh or 0.5 million new users in the country by 2015.

A source at the government run Infrastructure Development Co Ltd (IDCL) disclosed recently. The new initiative has been taken in view of the tremendous success the project has already achieved specially in rural electrification efforts, he added.

Its popularity is rapidly growing, said the source pointing out that the number of its current generation units stand at 109,700 and the total electricity produced by them stand at about six mw.

This success has been attained mainly from January 2003 to March this year when the IDCL took the project initially to reach a target group of only 50,000 users. Very soon, it surpassed the target. The World Bank and the German external technical assistance organisation - GTZ funded the project.

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[NickB79]

1. Did you notice this line?

"the number of its current generation units stand at 109,700 and the total electricity produced by them stand at about six mw."

100,000+ units create 6 MW of electricity.

Hey, at that rate they'll be pumping out 30 MW a day if they get to 500,000 units.

30 MW of power, at a cost of $100 million, to provide power to a country of over 100 million people. :freak:

[jpak]

2. Those PV modules have an operationally life expectancy of 40 years.

and they replace *expensive* kerosene - which is going up in price.

So yes, it's a good deal for the rural poor in Bangladesh that have no access to the national grid.

[NNadir]

4. You mean for a mere billion dollars, they could have a 300 MW plant?

I am impressed, even if the plant only has 20% capacity utilization.

This means that for 5 billion dollars, the could have a 300 MWe plant that operates at 100% capacity.

Gotta love that Wolfowitz. Halliburton must have started up a solar energy unit.

[razzleberry]

3. this some kind of a carbon-offset scam

the WB is into that kind of thing
.

another stupid loan