Solar home system in Bangladesh: Prospects, challenges and constraints

Solar energy is one of the most popular form of renewable energy. The use of solar panel is increasing rapidly all over the world. Fortunately, the location of Bangladesh is quite suitable for harnessing solar energy. However, large area is still uncovered either by grid electricity or by electricity generated from renewable sources. In the off grid areas of Bangladesh, solar home system (SHS) is getting popular day by day due to its declining price and due to favourable financial packages offered through Infrastructure Development Company Ltd. (ID-COL). Around 50,000 SHS are being installed every month under IDCOL program only. [1]. Already IDCOL has achieved a target of installing two million SHS by March 2013. With the gradual increase of per capita income and GDP growth, people are more inclined to lead a better life by having electricity in their homes at a higher price than that of grid electricity. However, there are some challenges that need to be mitigated to make the SHS viable and cost effective in future. In this paper, a study has been made to assess the challenges faced by the SHS users in a remote village in the district of Madaripur, Bangladesh. The objective of the study was to observe the present condition of the SHS and the degree of satisfaction enjoyed by the customers of SHS. It has been found that the satisfaction level of the people is not that encouraging due to low back up time (highest for three hours) in the evening and also high cost involved in the replacement of batteries. The paper focuses the problems faced by the SHS users and suggests some alternative solutions to provide electricity to the users for a longer period of time throughout day & night. The socio economic benefit that can be derived by providing electricity for a longer period of time is immense. The major constraint of SHS has been highlighted first and then min grid/ micro-grid type generation system has been proposed to provide uninterruptible electricity at a lesser cost.