Renewables

Current Approach towards Low Carbon Development in Bangladesh.  Bangladesh has emerged as one of the fastest growing economies in the 21st century, and the country has now set an ambition to be a high income country by 2041 (Vision 2041, GoB). The Government of Bangladesh (GoB) is not only focusing on fueling its economic growth but is also making environmental sustainability even more of a priority. For instance, although Bangladesh’s overall contribution to global carbon emissions is very small, the country has been striving for sustainable and low-carbon development. The GoB’s updated Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) expresses an enhanced ‘greenhouse gases’ (GHG) emission reduction target of 89.47 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (MtCO2e), i.e., equivalent to 21.85% of business-as-usual emissions by 2030 (NDC 2021, GoB). To diversify the energy generation sources (currently fossil fuel dominant), the Honorable Prime Minister of Bangladesh stated at COP26 that the country would aim to cover 40% of its power generation with renewable energy (RE) by the year 2041 (UNFCCC, 2021). Accordingly, the Government of Bangladesh adopted the Mujib Climate Prosperity Plan 2022-2041 (MCPP) in February 2022 where it included a phase-wise target of 40% RE by 2041, 50% by 2060, and 100% in the long term, considering diversified sources of RE, including solar, wind and hydrogen energy sources, subject to receiving support from international resources (MCPP 2022, GoB). The Mujib Climate Prosperity Plan, 8th Five Year Master Plan, Delta Plan, National Adaptation Plan, Perspective Plan, and updated Bangladesh Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan also echo the genuine need for speedier execution of RE, as an effective means for the development of sustainable energy sources while achieving GHG reduction targets of NDC holistically.

Nonetheless, issues like land shortage, absence of integrated plans, limited penetration of innovative RE technology coupled with inadequate grid integration of RE and lack of enabling policies, business models and sources of financing continue to be serious impediments for scaling up different solar-based RE energy solutions in Bangladesh......report available to read but Adobe Acrobat required to download,     https://www.iges.or.jp/en/pub/unlocking-clean-energy-ghg-reduction-and-better-livelihood-potentials-rural-areas-bangladesh/en

Current Approach towards Low Carbon Development in Bangladesh.  Bangladesh has emerged as one of the fastest growing economies in the 21st century, and the country has now set an ambition to be a high income country by 2041 (Vision 2041, GoB). The Government of Bangladesh (GoB) is not only focusing on fueling its economic growth but is also making environmental sustainability even more of a priority. For instance, although Bangladesh’s overall contribution to global carbon emissions is very small, the country has been striving for sustainable and low-carbon development. The GoB’s updated Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) expresses an enhanced ‘greenhouse gases’ (GHG) emission reduction target of 89.47 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (MtCO2e), i.e., equivalent to 21.85% of business-as-usual emissions by 2030 (NDC 2021, GoB). To diversify the energy generation sources (currently fossil fuel dominant), the Honorable Prime Minister of Bangladesh stated at COP26 that the country would aim to cover 40% of its power generation with renewable energy (RE) by the year 2041 (UNFCCC, 2021). Accordingly, the Government of Bangladesh adopted the Mujib Climate Prosperity Plan 2022-2041 (MCPP) in February 2022 where it included a phase-wise target of 40% RE by 2041, 50% by 2060, and 100% in the long term, considering diversified sources of RE, including solar, wind and hydrogen energy sources, subject to receiving support from international resources (MCPP 2022, GoB). The Mujib Climate Prosperity Plan, 8th Five Year Master Plan, Delta Plan, National Adaptation Plan, Perspective Plan, and updated Bangladesh Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan also echo the genuine need for speedier execution of RE, as an effective means for the development of sustainable energy sources while achieving GHG reduction targets of NDC holistically.

Nonetheless, issues like land shortage, absence of integrated plans, limited penetration of innovative RE technology coupled with inadequate grid integration of RE and lack of enabling policies, business models and sources of financing continue to be serious impediments for scaling up different solar-based RE energy solutions in Bangladesh......report available to read but Adobe Acrobat required to download,     https://www.iges.or.jp/en/pub/unlocking-clean-energy-ghg-reduction-and-better-livelihood-potentials-rural-areas-bangladesh/en

Powering a Brighter Future for Nigeria. Interconnected solar minigrids are powering homes and businesses with reliable, affordable, clean energy in Africa’s largest country. RMI Laurie Stone October 14, 2024  Alheji Gembo runs a small shop with cold drinks out of his home in Zawaciki, a housing settlement in Northern Nigeria. In the past, the unreliable power from the national grid made his business challenging. Now, Gembo, along with the 1,000 other homeowners and businesses in Zawaciki, gets his power from an interconnected solar minigrid. “Before we had this minigrid, we suffered in our work given the quality of the light,” he says.  Most Nigerians refer to electricity as “light,” and Gembo says on average he had about four hours of light each day. “Sometimes we even spent two days without light. But now that we have this minigrid... they give us at least 16 to 20 hours of light a day, every day.” With more reliable power, Gembo has grown his small business from one fridge to four, serving cold drinks to this hot arid community. Zawaciki — sited on the verge of northern Nigeria’s sunny savannah region — is one of soon to be five interconnected solar minigrids in Nigeria,

Africa’s most populous country with over 200 million people. An interconnected minigrid supplies an underserved rural, semi-urban, or even urban community that is already connected to the conventional electricity grid but that has unreliable power. Interconnected minigrids consist of a renewable energy source such as solar panels, and sometimes battery energy storage and a backup generator. They are connected to the main electrical grid and can buy energy from the main grid when needed, especially at night to reduce the cost of battery backup.Like much of sub-Saharan Africa, this oil and gas-rich country struggles to provide its growing population with sufficient electricity. Electricity demand far outstrips the supply, meaning constant power outages. Yet, located just north of the equator, Nigeria’s potential to generate solar power rivals or exceeds the best conditions in Europe and the United States. So RMI, along with the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP) as well as Nigerian partners, have implemented five pilot interconnected minigrids, three of which are operational and two of which are still in development......read on  https://rmi.org/powering-a-brighter-future-for-nigeria/

 China adds new clean power equivalent to UK’s entire electricity output. Data shows continued surge in wind and solar power amid hopes Chinese greenhouse gas emissions may have peaked. Guardian Fiona Harvey  Fri 16 Aug 2024  China added as much new clean energy generation in the first half of this year as the UK produced from all sources in the same period last year, data shows, as wind and solar power generation continued to surge in the world’s biggest emitter of greenhouse gases. Electricity generation from coal and gas dropped by 5% in China in July, year on year, according to an update from the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) thinktank, basing its analysis on data released by the Chinese government on Thursday.

According to CREA, carbon dioxide emissions from energy use and cement production, which account for more than 90% of China’s total carbon emissions, began to decline in March. CO2 output fell by about 1% in the second quarter of this year, according to the thinktank, marking the first quarterly decline since the country’s economy was reopened after the zero-Covid policy lockdowns. Within this overall reduction, CREA estimates that power sector emissions dropped by about 3% and cement production emissions by about 7%, while oil consumption fell by 3%. “If renewable energy continues to displace coal power generation, 2024 emissions could continue to decrease, potentially making 2023 the peak year for China’s emissions,” said Qi Qin, an analyst at CREA. However, calling the peak of China’s emissions can only be a tentative conclusion, as some of the factors behind the shift could reverse. Problems in the Chinese property market have led to a slowdown in China’s construction sector, meaning less concrete poured with its associated high emissions, and the carbon-intensive iron and steel sectors have also faltered.........read on   https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/aug/16/china-generating-enough-clean-energy-match-uk-entire-electricity-output