Prime Minister’s Energy Advisor Dr Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury has said that the government’s goal is to ensure first the access to uninterrupted electricity at an affordable cost with a concept of clean energy. He made the remarks while addressing a discussion titled, “Investing in Green Energy Transition: Partnership Opportunities for Bangladesh and Europe” on Tuesday. Team Europe, an initiative of the EU on green energy transition, organised the discussion at a city hotel on Tuesday. He also urged the European Union to cooperate with Bangladesh through its financial support to find innovative solutions to cope up with the global energy transition. Read more: Won’t suffer much from electricity crisis from next month: PM Distinguishing Bangladesh’s energy transition as something different from Europe’s one he said the EU countries have reached a level of development while Bangladesh is still growing and growth has been its primary objective. “So, Bangladesh and EU nations’ energy transition should not be the same,”he said. "The event, hosted by its co-chairs, Ambassador of the European Union to Bangladesh Charles Whiteley, and German Ambassador to Bangladesh  Achim Tröster, was also addressed by Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid, additional secretary to the Power Division Md Nurul Alam and chairman of Sustainable and Renewable Energy Development Authority (Sreda) Munira Sultana. Team Europe was launched in June 2021, aiming at supporting Bangladesh to build a power system that leads to maximum coverage of the country’s energy demand through renewable energy, while reducing greenhouse gas emissions, energy consumption and demand through energy efficiency. Tawfiq Elahi said that considering the national demand goals, Bangladesh has to design its own plan aiming at evolution to meet our own challenges from a national responsibility. "There are so many choices and nuclear is one of such choices. Nuclear emits less carbon than renewable energy,”he added. Nasrul Hamid said Bangladesh has been committed to the Paris Agreement to reduce its carbon emission. Read more: Nasrul Hamid under fire in Parliament for electricity crisis “We have already cancelled 10 coal-fired power plants worth of $10 billion foreign investments and are now focusing on developing renewable energy on those sites,” he said. He also informed that the government has initiated a move to revise the renewable energy policy to make it more private sector investment friendly. The event was participated by representatives from Denmark, France, Italy, Spain, Sweden, The Netherlands, and like-minded partner countries like Norway and Switzerland as well as European Financing Institutions like the Agence Française de Développement (AFD), Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH (GIZ), Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KFW), the European Investment Bank (EIB) and many other development partners. Highlighting the importance of the Team Europe support to green energy transition as part of the EU global gateway strategy, E Charles Whiteley  said, “The current global energy crisis, largely caused by the Russian aggression in Ukraine, has affected us all.” “However, in these hard times, we can turn it into an opportunity for a long-term shift towards a cleaner and more sustainable energy and power system,” he said. Achim Tröster, Ambassador of Germany  said, “Collaboration between Team Europe and Bangladesh will play a pivotal role in a successful green energy transition in Bangladesh.” “Global challenges not only need local actions, but also international collaborations, and broader cooperation. We need each other now more than ever, to make sure that we continue to find ways to push for the green transition,” he said. Sustainability is fundamental to our future, and it must be integrated in all spheres of society,” said Alexandra Berg von Linde, Ambassador of Sweden. The event included two panel discussions: the first focused on innovation, technologies, and success stories on renewable energy generation and grid integration; the second revolved around the opportunities and challenges of investing in green energy transition in Bangladesh. The Team Europe Initiative is co-chaired by the European Union and Germany counts with support from Denmark, France, Italy, Spain, Sweden, The Netherlands, the European Investment Bank (EIB), Norway and Switzerland.

Prime Minister’s Energy Advisor Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury has blamed the current energy crisis in the country on the 'Westerners.' "This not our self creation. The Westerners have put us into danger," he told a virtual seminar titled: “Sustainable Energy Security in Bangladesh: Vision of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman”, organised by Bangladesh Energy Society (BES) on Sunday. Defending the current petroleum fuel price hike by more than 50 per cent, he said Bangladesh is not only country to have raised the price. Even the countries like the USA have increased the price. “Per gallon of petrol is being sold at $5 in the USA which is equivalent to Tk120-130 per litre”, he told the seminar. Also read: Quader defends sudden fuel price hike as step to halt losses He said new innovative solutions like solar-run fast charging station for three wheelers, cooking through electric oven should be introduced to shift the load of electricity to bring a rationality in the system. Eminent energy expert Dr Tamim said the price of petroleum has already come down in the US to $3 from $5 per gallon. One US gallon is equivalent to about four litres. He said the government should have decreased the fuel price much earlier when price had decreased in the global market. But that was not done. Now again the energy price was raised by about 50 per cent in one go. "There should be a specific policy that if the price decreases, the profit should be preserved as a special fund and that should be utilised for petroleum import when price goes up”, he said. He said the oil price may witness a decline soon as it always happens in cyclic order that after a rise, when supply increases in the market, price automatically falls. Also read: Fuel price hike: Govt raises bus fares About the gas exploration, he said there should not be much more dependency on the state-owned Bapex for hydrocarbon exploration as it failed to make remarkable breakthroughs in the last 50 years. “Now foreign companies should be awarded contracts for both onshore and offshore explorations,” he added. The seminar was also addressed by Summit Group’s chairman Mohammed Aziz Khan, chief of 71 TV Mozammel Babu, energy expert Firoze Alam, business executive Zakaria Jalal and official Mizanur Rahman. Former principal secretary to PM and president of BES Abul Kalam Azad presided over the event while Energy and Power magazine editor Mollah Amzad Hossain conducted it. Mozammel Babu saisd that use of induction oven for cooking should be encouraged through mandatory provision as it is more competitive compared with use of gas-oven. He said the government should move for massive solar power project implementation like Vietnam which already set up 20,000 MW solar power projects. Aziz Khan said foreign oil companies will not be interested to invest in gas exploration until they have been given the option for gas export. He said many local companies could be interested to invest in exploration if there is change in the policy.