Sustainable and Renewable Energy Development Authority (Sreda) has launched a special programme to create master trainers for six power distribution utilities who will train up their own engineers.

As per a concept paper of the programme, the trained engineers will act as master trainer at their respective utilities. 

Twenty engineers are participating in the first batch.

On this occasion, an opening ceremony was held at Sreda Auditorium in the city on Wednesday, presided over by the organisation’s chairman Mohammad Alauddin.

READ: Bangladesh seeks EU support for regional hydropower, solar projects

Chairman of Bangladesh Energy and Power Research Council (BEPRC) Satyajit Karmaker was present at the function as the chief guest while it was also addressed by Sreda members Selima Jahan and Mohammad Golam Sarware Kainat.

Addressing the function, Mohammad Alauddin said the government had set targets of 10 percent electricity generation from renewable energy of its total generation capacity by 2020.

But scarcity of land and the complex process in acquiring lands are hampering solar power generation, he added.

“To overcome the issues and continue with more electricity generation from solar power, net metering guideline was introduced in July 2018,”he said

He mentioned that this guideline allows the rooftops of industries, commercial and residential buildings to be used for grid-connected renewable energy which can significantly contribute to achieving the target.

He said the training programme will help utilities to promote the owners of industries and commercial buildings to meet part of their electricity demand at a cheaper price and to reduce electricity and fuel costs.

READ: Hasan Mahmud calls for foreign funding to boost use of solar energy in agriculture

The Sreda chairman mentioned that electricity distribution utilities like DESCO, DPDC, BREB, BPDB, WZPDCL and NESCO are working to implement Rooftop Solar programme.

For smooth implementation of rooftop solar projects distribution utilities should have clear understanding about the solar system and benefit of investment in the system, he added.