US firm eyes heavy investment in solar, LNG-based power sectors

US infrastructure giant Eleris Energy Ltd is keen to invest heavily in Bangladesh's solar and integrated LNG-based power sectors.

The company intends to implement three mega solar power projects and one LNG terminal project to boost overall electricity output from the renewable sector and increase the contribution to clean energy, said sources.

The US firm has planned to build 2,200 megawatt grid-connected solar power plants under three separate mega projects across the country.

Once implemented, these renewable energy projects will be the biggest in the country and among the leading plants of its kind in the world.

The projects will help attract foreign direct investment during the current coronavirus pandemic period when the global economy is waning, they added.

It will also help the government achieve its planned target of generating around 10 per cent of electricity from renewable energy out of the current total output of around 20,595 MW.

Currently, renewable energy's contribution to overall grid-connected electricity generation is around 311 MW including 230-MW hydropower, which is less than 2.0 per cent of the total output, according to statistics of Power Cell as of January 2020.

Eleris' three renewable energy projects will help increase renewable energy seven-fold in the country and make Bangladesh a world leader in cutting carbon emissions, they said.

Among the proposed projects, Eleris has planned to implement two projects having the total electricity generation capacity of 1,200 MW under joint ventures, or JVs, with two state-run power producing entities--Bangladesh Power Development Board, or BPDB, and Ashuganj Power Station Company Ltd, or APSCL, a senior BPDB official said.

The US company has also planned to implement the remaining 1,000 MW solar power plant project under JV with the Bangladesh Army.

Besides, it has planned to build an LNG terminal at Kutubdia island in Chattogram and supply re-gasified LNG to existing trunk-line gas network there.

The projects include the construction of high-voltage transmission lines and substations as well as necessary infrastructure works required at the point of interconnection at new suitable substations.

The company has already placed two separate proposals to the BPDB and the APSCL to build two solar power plants having 600 megawatts, or MW, capacity each in Chattogram, some 190 kilometres south of capital Dhaka.

All of the photovoltaic solar power plants proposed by Eleris Energy are to be constructed in separate, sequentially built and commissioned phases having 200 MW capacity each on a build, own and operate, or BOO, basis.

The US firm has offered both the BPDB and the APSCL to subscribe to any equity share in the JV and the remaining equity will be subscribed by the sponsor itself as a lead member of the consortium.

It has intended to design, finance, procure, build and maintain the projects and sell electricity to the BPDB for an initial term of 20 years at a rational tariff rate.

The firm has already identified around 5,500 acres of contiguous foreshore and onshore land available for long-term lease and private purchase along the coast and close to the Chattogram load centre.

Eleris Energy has also initiated talks with the Bangladesh Army and is expecting to ink a memorandum of understanding, or MOU, soon to implement the 1,000 MW solar power plant project titled 'Swarno Dweep' in Noakhali.

The Prime Minister' Office has already given instructions to implement a large-scale, grid-connected solar power project on the island, which is dedicated and under control of the Bangladesh Army, said sources.

The project, to be located some 100 km south of the capital, will be implemented in five separate phases having 200 MW each. As per the plan, the Bangladesh Army will provide land use agreement and other necessary support, while the US firm will finance, develop, construct, own and operate the solar plant.

The government has plans to award more renewable energy projects to diversify the source of energy and boost clean energy's contribution to the country's energy basket, said a senior official of Power Division under the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources.

The BPDB is ready to ink deals to implement renewable energy projects in line with the government instructions, said BPDB chairman Engr. Md Belayat Hossain.

He said the government has already gave permission to build coal-fired, and gas-fired power plants to meet the country's overall electricity demand for the next decade excepting those from renewable energy.

Eleris Energy is owned by US-based Pacific Energy Group, whose principals are involved in managing over US$27 billion of investments in real estate and infrastructure.

It has experience in developing, financing, and managing power generation infrastructure involving over $6.0 billion of investment in over 20 countries of six continents.

The company is currently developing and investing in a portfolio of integrated renewable energy and gas to power projects in South and South-East Asia.