That Bangladesh generates barely over five percent of its electricity from renewable sources is not a statistic we should be happy about.
With that said, we must also acknowledge our reality – that coal and gas will remain the backbone of our energy mix for years to come.
However, acknowledging this truth can certainly not be the reason for inertia.
We remain a least developed country, and lack most of the components required to make a rapid transition to renewables – that is not up for debate.
Yet, the longer we delay formulating a serious transition plan, the more we lag behind the rest of the world when it comes to addressing power generation.
Indeed, the case for renewables goes beyond its environmental impact. The reality is that we as a nation already spend billions annually on fuel imports.
Solar and wind are now competitive and increasingly reliable, and we owe it to our future to strategize having incremental expansion of renewables.
Not only will this over time reduce our dependence on imports for our increasingly growing energy demands but will also strengthen energy security and help create potential industries and jobs.
Scattered pilot projects though will not get the job done – this will need a concerted, planned effort. Without such planning, renewable sources will remain inadequate and unable to make any significant dent in our reliance on gas and coal for power generation.
While we cannot leap overnight from coal and gas to clean energy, we can, and we must, take deliberate steps each year that move us closer to that goal.
