Proceedings of 13th Asian Business Research Conference
26 - 27 December, 2015, BIAM Foundation, Dhaka, Bangladesh, ISBN: 978-1-922069-93-1
Prospects and Constraints of Renewable Energy Sector in
Bangladesh: An Analytical Exercise
Sakib B. Amin, Shaika L. Islam, Tanvina Z. Kamal and Nuzhat Nuarey
Energy is considered as an important driver of economic development. However, a
significant number of rural households in Bangladesh are still not connected to the national
grid and hence they are deprived of their basic necessities of life. Lack of adequate
planning and investment in primary energy for a large number of years has caused a
serious shortage of primary energy in Bangladesh. As a result, energy shortage has
emerged as a binding constraint on growth in Bangladesh. So adopting for alternative
mode of energy has not only been considered as one of the goals of Million Development
Goals (MDGs) to ensure environmental mitigation, but also has become an urgent need
for our nation to solve this energy crisis.
Renewable Energy Technologies (RETs) can play a vital role to reduce poverty, ensure
energy shortage and prevent environmental degradation such as desertification,
biodiversity depletion and climate change effects in Bangladesh. One of the great promises
offered by the RETs is their potential to provide electricity in areas not served by national
power grids. There is no doubt about the fact that renewable energy will take a crucial role
not only for off grid electrification in the country but also for future electricity generation as
a whole. The process of implementing renewable is nothing new in Bangladesh and
Bangladesh has huge potential for harnessing renewable energy for its suitable climatic
condition and location. However, the ratio of renewable sources to the energy mix of
Bangladesh is still very limited in comparison to the non renewable resources. While our
neighboring country India is taking stringent policy to adopt renewable sources, our country
is still lagging behind to develop these resources .
The link between energy and economy in Bangladesh is strong and any disruption in
energy supplies is bound to have a negative impact on the economy. Thus, this paper aims
to identify the prospects of renewable energy as an alternative source of energy since
ensuring affordable supplies of energy in various forms is central to the socio-economic
development of a country. We would also like to highlight the barriers of using renewable
energies such as lack of policy and regulatory frameworks, financial constraints,
technological limitations, lack of awareness about renewable resources, subsidized non
renewable sectors etc for using renewable resources and suggest some policy reforms for
the optimum utilization of renewable to meet the optimum goal of sustainable development.
Field of Research: Economics
____________________________________________________
Dr. Sakib B. Amin, Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, North South University,
Email: sakib.amin@northsouth.edu
Ms. Shaika L. Islam, BSS Student, Department of Economics, North South University,
Email: shaika.islam@gmail.com
Ms. Tanvina Z. Kamal, BSS Student, Department of Economics, North South University,
Email: tanvinazafrin25@yahoo.com
Ms. Nuzhat Nuarey, BSS Student and Corresponding Author, Department of Economics
North South University, Email: menuzhat46@gmail.com