The parliament has drafted a new law to set up a "sustainable and renewable energy development authority" but has not given the proposed body enough power to gradually increase the use of renewable energy, experts said yesterday.

The role of the authority has been largely confined to only encouraging the use of renewable energy and assisting the government in this regard, they said. The real power lies in the hands of the government, they added.

Such an authority should be independent if the government really wants to increase the share of renewable energy up to 10 percent in the country's total energy consumption by 2020, they told a views exchange meeting with the parliamentary standing committee on power, energy and mineral resources at Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban. Scientists, educationists, researchers,

businesspersons and journalists spoke on the occasion.

Renewable energy represents 1.5 percent of the country’s total power consumption at present with 13 lakh solar home systems and 45,000 bio-gas plants. Considering global warming and excessive dependence on non-renewable energy resources, the government wants to increase the use of renewable energy and promote energy efficiency.

The experts termed the effort to create the body a major step but said the proposed law needed revision. Since the law talks about a chairman and a 16-member board of directors but does not specify the qualifications of the chairman, the experts feared that the new authority would become another dumping place for retired bureaucrats.

State Minister for Power and Energy M Enamul Huq placed the bill in parliament in mid-September to set up the new agency.