EGCB plans 220MW solar plant at Sonagazi

Electricity Generation Company of Bangladesh (EGCB) now plans to set up a 220MW solar power plant in Sonagazi upazila of Feni district.

The company has some 650 acres of land in Sonagazi after setting up a 75MW solar plant there.

After completing the feasibility study, it has invited competent consultancy firms to submit expressions of interest (EoI) to conduct a grid impact study before setting up the large-scale plant.

The selected firm has to conduct power flow analysis for a base case with power evacuation of EGCB's 220MW photovoltaic power plant and also contingency analysis for a set of contingencies to determine the plant's impact on system voltage and line flows.

Also, it needs to conduct short circuit analysis to determine the impact on fault levels of the nearby buses, frequency withstand capability, and voltage withstand capability, among other responsibilities.

Masud Alam, superintending engineer (Renewable Energy Unit) of EGCB, told The Financial Express they are looking for foreign funding and will also use the company's own fund to set up the plant.

"We will begin work once the funding is available," he said.

EGCB has the required land in Songazi, on the bank of the sea, where no crops are produced at present due to salinity.

"We have already completed other studies, including feasibility, to set up the plant," said Alam.

EGCB's existing 75MW solar plant in Sonagazi has been supplying electricity to the national grid since February last year.

The company plans to use the transmission interconnection facilities, constructed under the 75MW plant project, to evacuate power from the proposed project.

As a result, constructing separate transmission facilities would not be needed for the project.

The 75MW plant was financed by the World Bank and the company's own fund. The World Bank provided $89 million for the project.

The company last year signed a deal with Japan's Marubeni Corporation to build a 100MW solar plant in Sonagazi. It also planned to build another 100MW plant with funding from Hero Future Energies Asia.

In 2024, the utility service provider also discussed plans with the Asian Development Bank to have funding for another 100MW solar plant in Sonagazi.

Presently, Bangladesh has the capacity to generate 1,558MW of electricity from renewable sources. Of this, 1,264MW comes from solar alone.

Between December 2024 and March this year, the Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) launched tenders to set up 55 solar plants having a total generation capacity of 5.28GW.

syful-islam@outlook.com