Power Cell director general Mohammad Hossain has said that Bangladesh is trying to import 500 MW of hydro-electricity from Nepal.

He informed this while speaking at webinar on “COP26 Outcome and Its Implication on energy sector transition for Bangladesh” organized by Energy & Power magazine.

Abul Kalam Azad, Special Envoy to CVF Presidency and President, Bangladesh Energy Forum, Mohammad Alauddin, Chairman, Sustainable and Renewable Energy Development Authority (SREDA), Dr. Nurul Quadir, Former Additional Secretary and Faculty Member of North South University, Md. Ziaul Haque, Director, Department of Environment, Dr. Mizan R Khan, Deputy Director, International Centre for Climate Change and Development, Independent University, Engr. Al Mudabbir Bin Anam, Programme Coordinator, Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Programme, GIZ Bangladesh also spoke on the occasion.

Mohammad Hossain said Indian company GMR is developing a 1,300 MW power plant in Nepal and Bangladesh is working on to import 500 MW from that plant.

He noted that Bangladesh needs extra power to meet the peak demands in the summer between April and August.

He said the country has to increase its generation capacity by 40 percent to meet this peak demand which stays for only 4-5 hours in the day time.

“This extra generation is not cost effective. If we go for regional energy cooperation to develop power exchange market, it will be helpful for us to import such extra power from the regional sources”, he added.

Dr. Mizan R Khan said India has been stumbling block for regional energy cooperation because of its nationalistic attitude not to allow multinational diplomacy with smaller country.

He alleged that Indian current political authority is trying to revive their founding fathers’ India-Pakistan centric two-nation theory.

He observed that there is 70,000 MW hydro power generation potential in Nepal and Bhutan.