Energy experts at a webinar on Saturday said managing primary fuel at an affordable cost has emerged as the biggest challenge for Bangladesh in the volatile global energy market. “The price of liquefied natural gas (LNG) is so volatile globally that it varies from $7 to $29 per MMBtu. Even, the price may go up to $80,” said Dr Izaj Hossain, an eminent energy expert. The webinar, organised by Energy and Power magazine, was also addressed by former power secretary and special envoy to Climate Vulnerable Forum presidency Abul Kalam Azad, former managing director of Petrobangla M Quamruzzaman, and Mohammadi Group’s managing director Navidul Haque. EP editor Mollah Amzad Hossain chaired the seminar. Khodaker Abdus Saleque made a presentation on the issue. The experts said the global prices of primary fuels like petroleum and LNG are going up due to the revival of economic activity across the world following the Covid pandemic shock. Read: Summit signs MoU with Commonwealth LNG to help supply fuel to Bangladesh

State Minister for Power, energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid has said that providing uninterrupted electricity and gas at affordable and sustainable price is future challenge for the country. “We’ve already achieved the goal in power generation. Now our goal is uninterrupted power and energy supply at affordable and sustainable price”, he told a webinar on “Bangabandhu's Energy Strategies & Our Energy Security”, organised by Energy and Power magazine on Sunday. The virtual seminar was also addressed by eminent economist Dr Ahsan H Mansur, member of Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) Syed Mokbul Elahi, Prof Nurul Islam, expatriate Bangladeshi Dr. Firoz Alam, and Power Cell director general Mohammad Hossain while Mollah Amzad Hossain conducted the function. Khondaker Abdus Saleque made keynote presentation on the issue. Lauding the role of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in ensuring energy security by purchasing four gas fields from a foreign company in 1975, Nasrul Hamid said the Awami League government is following the same path by putting special emphasis on achieving sufficiency in power and energy supply. Read: 10 coal-fired power projects scrapped as part of master plan revision: Nasrul Hamid “Power and energy sector played the key role in achieving economic growth of over 7 per cent”, said the state minister adding that global energy scenario and technology has been changing so fast. “That’s why we need to adopt short and medium-term strategy to cope with the global trend in energy sector”, he said. Nasrul Hamid said the government is now working on setting a right strategy for ensuring an affordable energy price keeping in mind the future demand. We will need to import more gas in future to meet the demand as the domestic gas exploration and production is a time consuming matter, he said adding the economy will suffer a lot if gas is not imported as more manufacturing industries are coming in production. Read: Dhaka consumes 46% of the electricity Bangladesh generates: Nasrul Hamid Dr Ahsan H Mansur said people don’t expect cheaper power and energy. “But they expect uninterrupted power and energy at an affordable price”. Urging the government for giving more emphasis on energy efficiency and choosing right technology for energy sector, he said efficiency will play the key role in fixing energy price in future. Dr Firoz Alam said the government should pay attention on creating skilled manpower for efficient energy sector. In this regard, he suggested collaboration between the Bangladeshi institutions with foreign universities and institutions. Expatriate Bangladeshis can play role in this regard as well, he added.

Dhaka city alone consumes 46 percent of the electricity Bangladesh produces, while the remaining amount is consumed by the rest of the country. Disclosing the data, State Minister for Power and Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid said this is not only a difficult situation, but also a dangerous one. “We’ve to generate power in northern and southern regions of the country and bring it to Dhaka spending huge money,” he told a webinar titled “Sustainable Development of Energy-Power Sector & Budget for FY 2021-22” on Saturday. The virtual seminar, organised by Energy and Power magazine, was also addressed by economist Dr Ahsan H Mansur, eminent energy expert Dr M Tamim, Summit Group Chairman Mohammad Aziz Khan, former NBR Chairman Dr Mohammad Abdul Mazid, and former president of Dhaka Chamber Abul Kasem Khan. Power Cell director general Mohammad Hossain presented the keynote paper at the seminar conducted by magazine editor Mollah Amzad Hossain. Also read: Consumers to be urged to be more economical in power consumption Noting that no major infrastructure is being developed in other areas of the country, Nasrul Hamid said the industrial sector failed to consume as much electricity as expected. Dismissing a claim made by economists that there is a big surplus in power production, he said now the country’s highest consumption is 15,000 MW of electricity while the actual demand is 17,000 MW and the generation is 24,000 MW-plus. “Some 7,000 MW is not a big surplus in power generation.”      Hamid said the technology in power generation is changing fast and the country may not require in the future to install any new power plant.

Energy and Mineral Resources Division’s senior secretary Anisur Rahman has said that the government will monitor the implementation of the new price of Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG) fixed by the Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC). “We will monitor whether the LPG is being sold at the new price fixed by the BERC,” he said while addressing a webinar on “BERC’s LPG Pricing and Its Sustainability” organised by Energy and Power magazine on Saturday. The energy secretary’s remarks came against the backdrop of BERC’s announcement to fix the price of LPG with effect from April 12. As per the new prices, the private companies will have to sell a 12 kg LPG at Tk 975 while LP Gas Company Ltd, the state-owned company, will sell its 12.5 kg LPG at Tk 591 at the retail level. Also read: Pvt companies’ 12 kg LPG price fixed at Tk 975, govt’s 12.5 kg at Tk 591 But many consumers apprehend that they will not get the LPG at the prices fixed by the regulator as there is no strict monitoring by the government about its enforcement. The energy secretary said that due to lockdown situation, it is not possible for them to strictly monitor whether the LPG is being sold at the BERC-fixed price or not. “But after lockdown, we will be going for strict monitoring and it will be the duty of the all the concerned agencies of the government to implement the new LPG price”. Before the price fixing by BERC, the private companies had been selling 12 kg LPG in the retail markets at Tk 1100 -Tk 1200 while those of the state-owned company over Tk 700. Also read: ‘Stop meddling in LPG price fixing process’ About 20 private companies have been operating in the market with more than 95 percent market share by annually importing 1.2 million metric tons of bulk LPG from mainly Middle-East while the state-owned LP Gas Company is locally producing 25,000 MTs of LPG from locally produced condensates at different gas fields. The webinar was also addressed by energy experts Dr M Tamim, Dr Ijaz Ahmed, BERC member Syed Mokbul-e-Elahi, and Bashirul Haque. Bashundhara LPG’s Head of Marketing Zaharia Jalal made a presentation on the issue. He said that many costs of LPG business were not considered by the BERC while fixing this price. Also read: BERC moves to set LPG price at retail level “As a result, the LPG operators will face trouble to make the price sustainable,” he said. Dr M Tamim said that the BERC should have declared a pricing formula instead of fixing a price in the market. “If a formula was declared, it would have been more effective to regulate the price,” he added.

Only one out of 150 candidates fulfilled the eligibility criteria for being energy auditor, in an examination of Sustainable and Renewable Energy Development Authority (Sreda). Such experience was shared by BUET Prof Dr Mohammad Zahirul Haque at a webinar organised by Energy and Power magazine on Saturday. The exam was held by Sreda last year just before the outbreak of Covid-19 in the country to appoint independent energy auditors. Dr Haque said although most of the candidates were BUET students, they forgot how to calculate the efficiency in energy use. The virtual seminar, tiled “Energy Efficiency Opportunities in RMG & Textile Industry”, was also addressed, among others by Prime Minister’s Energy Advisor Dr Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury, Sreda Chairman Mohammad Alauddin, President of Bangladesh Readymade Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) Dr Rubana Huq, energy expert Prof Nurul Islam, former president of Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry Asif Ibrahim and Idcol’s chief financial officer Nazmul Haque. Energy and Power editor Mollah Amzad Hossain conducted the seminar. Dr Tawfiq-e-Elahi said the government entities should hear from the industry owners to remove their bottlenecks in pursuing their energy efficiency mechanism. “There should be proper coordination between Sreda, banks and industry owners so that the industry operators can easily avail the low-cost loans for making their industries energy efficient. Mohammad Alauddin said setting up Sreda itself reflects the government’s good intention to promote energy efficiency. He said Sreda has so far conducted energy auditing at 12 industries in the country and their results will be released soon through a publication. Sreda member Farzana Momtaz, who made the keynote presentation, said the readymade garment sector can reduce their energy cost by 16 percent if they pursue energy efficiency mechanism. It will reduce their cost and they will derive most benefits from global market being treated as green industry owners, she said. Rubana said although there is no adequate government support for energy efficiency, the garment sector itself made progress turning many of their industries into efficient. Some seven green factories, out of 10 which were recognised as most energy efficient across the globe, belong to Bangladesh, she said adding that so far 130 industries were converted into green industries and some 500 are now in the line of turning into efficient industries. She said the government incentives for such initiative are very inadequate. Prof Nurul Islam said the successful case industries of the energy efficiency should be published so that others can be encouraged to see the success. Asif Ibrahim said the government has to remove bureaucratic bottlenecks in providing support to the industries to make them efficient.

The government needs to allocate a specific budget, set a target and formulate policy guideline to promote renewable energy in the country, experts and stakeholders said Saturday in a webinar.

Speakers at a webinar on infrastructure development observed that the local firms are forced to face uneven competition from foreign firms to obtain public works contracts due to policy anomalies.

Speakers at a webinar urged the authorities concerned to pay more attention to public health issues like air pollution, environment pollution that makes a cost every year.