WASHINGTON, March 1, 2019 — and mobilize private sector participation to meet the growing demand for electricity in the country.
The Scaling-up Renewable Energy Project will increase installed capacity of renewables through piloting and expanding investments in key market segments. It will build the first 50 MW phase of a large scale solar panel energy park in the Feni district, which will be implemented by the Electricity Generation Company of Bangladesh (EGCB). Currently, the share of the total installed renewable energy in grid supply is only 1.5 percent and has significant potential for scaling up. The project will help provide better access to cleaner electricity as well as air by avoiding burning fossil fuels. It will help cut emissions by 377,000 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent a year.
“. It also has one of the most successful off-grid renewable energy programs in the world, providing electricity to another 10 percent of the population,” said Dandan Chen, World Bank Acting Country Director for Bangladesh and Bhutan. “This project will help expand renewable energy generation capacity. By leveraging all sources of finance, the expanded renewable energy sector is ready to push the country’s growth trajectory further.”
to provide credit to developers of both rooftop solar photovoltaics (PV) and large-scale solar PV projects. The project will support the Infrastructure Development Company Limited (IDCOL) with development of the Financing Facility and provide resources to the Sustainable and Renewable Energy Development Authority (SREDA) to build market capacity and develop a pipeline of renewable energy projects.
"The power sector in Bangladesh has grown rapidly with maximum generation capacity increased from a little over 4,000 MW in 2009 to more than 20,000 MW in 2018,” said Jari Väyrynen, World Bank Team Leader for the Scaling-up Renewable Energy Project. “ .”
The $185 million credit also includes a $26.38 million loan and a $2.87 million grant from the Strategic Climate Fund (SCF) of the World Bank’s Climate Investment Funds (CIFs).
The credit from the World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA), which provides concessional financing, has a 30-year term, including a five-year grace period, and an interest rate of 1.25 percent with a service charge of 0.75 percent. The SCF loan is on Scaling-up Renewable Energy Program (SREP) Loan terms and has a maturity of 40 years, including a grace period of 10 years.
The World Bank was among the first development partners to support Bangladesh following its independence. Since then the World Bank has committed more than $30 billion in grants and interest-free credits to Bangladesh. In recent years, Bangladesh has been among the largest recipients of the World Bank’s interest-free credits.
