Wind power development in Bangladesh

Concluding part

Advantages of wind power: The wind power is a unique source of renewable energy offers immense benefits including the followings:

a)    Eco-friendly and sustainable: It is clean and does not cause any pollution or greenhouse gasses, and thus helping the world to prevent adverse effects of climate change in a small, but important way by reducing the use of fossil-fuel that emits carbon dioxides. Unlike fossil fuels, it will never run out and the more we use it, the more it will reduce carbon dioxide emissions that will have a positive impact on our planet.
b)    Cheap to generate: Wind power is one of the most cost-effective sources of renewable energy around. "Wind power is cheaper than fossil fuels" (Source: Wind Power Engineering and Development, USA). According to Bulb Energy, wind energy in 2017 cost the same to generate as conventional gas and is far cheaper than nuclear energy. Offshore wind power in particular has reduced in price by nearly 50% since 2015. It means more and more consumers will be able to benefit from reduced bills compared to fossil fuels. Once the renewable infrastructure is built, the fuel is free forever. Unlike carbon-based fuels, the wind and the sun and the earth itself provide fuel that is free, and effectively limitless. Installation of the infrastructure is fairly costly, but once it's up and running, it's a low cost source of energy to generate.
c)    Enhances wind power jobs: A good numbers of jobs have been created with the investment in wind power development such as wind turbine technicians, engineers, designers, analysts and project managers. About 1.1 million people employed in wind power sector worldwide.
d)    Reduce reliance on imported energy: Home grown wind power energy reduces the reliance on energy imports from abroad. It helps to control over energy prices compared to the fluctuating prices of foreign energy that we cannot control.
e)    Efficient use of space: Wind farms may need plenty of space in between each turbine to prevent turbulence, but the land in between can often been utilised for agricultural purposes. Offshore wind farms take up relatively small amounts of space and do not interfere with shipping lanes or important water ways.

Disadvantages of wind power: Though the advocacy for the development of wind power energies has been growing day by day it has some disadvantages:

It's inconsistent and unreliable: Wind power is governed by the nature and in some onshore areas the flow of wind is particularly inconsistent due to irregular wind patterns on land. In offshore area, wind is more consistent but the infrastructure involved is more expensive to install and maintain due to the logistics of accessing and working with the offshore sites.

High initial investment: The installation is expensive.

Interference for local residents: One drawback is the visual interference of wind turbines. Wind farms located onshore are often in areas of beautiful countryside which for some local residents obstruct their views. Homeowners living close to wind farms also complain of the noise they generate.

Keeping in mind the advantages and disadvantages of the wind power, the geographical, environmental and climatic conditions of Bangladesh attract many professionals in favour of installing wind turbines to exploit its full potentials. Some of the remarkable outcomes of the several studiesare as follow:

l    The potential wind energy exists along the 724 km long coastal belt with more than 200 km long hilly coastline and more than 50 islands in the Bay of Bengal. Economically viable, a wind turbine requires an average annual wind speed of at least 5.36 m/s and above.
l    According to the NREL, Bangladesh has a potential of 30,000 MW of wind energy as there are 20,000 square km of areas where wind speed is 5.75-7.75 metre per second. It also identifies locations, having average wind speed between 5-6 metre per second at a height of over 60-80 metre, are Lalpur, Chandpur, Sitakundu, Parkay Beach, Gouripur, Madhupur Tea Estate, Dacop, Inani Beach and Badarganj.
l    The wind speed varies with different seasons, locations, times and heights above the ground. Some of the areas are satisfactory for operating pumps while some other areas are suitable for generating electricity.
l    Some of the foreign investigators recognise the potential wind energy markets in the areas where demand of electricity is very high in absence of any existing facilities.
l    As a result of technological advancement, the wind energy generation cost has come down from 25 cents (19.5 BDT) to 5 cents (3.9 BDT) per KW-hr during the last 20 years in the USA (AJER, 2016).
In contrast with the prospects for developing wind power energy, several studies have revealed the prevailing organisational inefficiencies along withthe technical, economical, financial, human resource and policy barriers. The key constraints for wind power development include:

l    Lack of skilled man power and expertise for the development of various aspects of wind power technologies;
l    Lack of legal, regulatory and policy framework for market oriented wind power programmes;
l    Lack of expertise and services in resource management, system design, installation, operation and maintenance of wind energy technologies;
l    Limited technical capacities to design, manufacture, install, operate, manage and maintain wind power units;
l    Lack of standards and quality control for renewable energy equipment;
l    Lack of appropriate financing mechanisms;
l    Lack of investment incentives;
l    Limited knowledge on the wind energy market potential for both public and private sectors, especially on small and dispersed size of the wind energy markets in Bangladesh.

The government of Bangladesh has taken several steps to address the constraints including the institutional development, updating reliable, consistent and accurate wind energy data, wind mapping, and encouraging public-private sector initiatives.  The government has declared someinvestment incentives such as exemption of Corporate Income Tax for 10 years for consumers or utility buyers of electricity from Renewable Energy Projects less than 5MW, RE equipment/raw materials exempted 5% VAT, foreign Companies are allowed to repatriates equity and profit, spare parts up to an amount of 10% of total plant cost are allowed to import without tax and VAT within 12 years etc. The government has also encouraged some promotional Funds for RE & EE Projects.

The development of wind power will not only enrich our economy but also help to keep clean this planet and protect our future generation from pollution. We have so far gained valuable experiences from our existing wind power projects and working with the international development partners. Now we have been able to identify our own strengths, weaknesses and avenues to move on. At this stage we need to intensify our research to devise foolproof, low cost and efficient wind power technologies suitable for our specific locations and requirements. Especial efforts needed to develop knowledge, skills, expertise and technical capabilities for manufacturing, installing, operating and maintaining wind power technologies.
The writer is former editor, Journal of the Institution of Engineers, Bangladesh