DIPANKAR ROY, Khulna

A 20-kilowatt solar power plant and training centre in Khulna city, set up in 2008 to promote renewable energy and create public awareness, has been lying idle for nearly 14 years due to neglect.

The facility is located beside a pond in a park in Sonadanga Residential Area.

The project was jointly implemented by the European Union, Germany’s Bremen University and Khulna City Corporation.

The initiative began in 2007, when Dr Bibhuti Roy, a former professor at Germany’s Bremen University, proposed setting up a solar power training institute and generation centre.

He prepared the “Promotion of Renewable (Solar) Energy” project for Khulna division and secured a grant of Tk 1.05 crore from donor agencies.

“I believed that small-scale individual initiatives to generate solar power at the community level, including household rooftops, tin-shed houses, pond embankments, and other unused spaces in villages and towns, could transform the energy sector in a country like Bangladesh sustainably,” Dr Bibhuti said over the phone.

“Large projects alone cannot solve the problem,” he added.

He said despite repeated efforts to keep the initiative alive and operational, little progress had been made.

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