Prime Minister Tarique Rahman has stated that farmers will be provided with solar-powered water pumps instead of diesel-powered pumps for irrigation purposes within the next five years.
The Prime Minister informed the Parliament of this on Wednesday (September 9) during the Prime Minister’s Question-Answer session, in response to a supplementary question from Tajuddin Khan, Member of Parliament for Meherpur-1 constituency. Speaker Hafiz Uddin Ahmed presided over the session.
The Member of Parliament from Jamaat-e-Islami’s question was whether there was any plan to provide farmers with free solar power instead of diesel-powered engines for irrigation.
In response, the Prime Minister stated, ‘The current government plans to gradually bring all areas where water pumps are run by diesel under solar power within the next five years.’
In response to Tajuddin Khan’s question, the Prime Minister also outlined the government’s action plan for expanding renewable energy, solar power plants, and other alternative energy sources.
He said, ‘Considering the country’s growing electricity demand, the government has identified renewable energy as a priority sector to reduce dependence on imported fuel. A National Renewable Energy Development Strategy Paper for the period 2026-2030 has already been formulated. According to this strategy paper, the target is to achieve at least 20 percent of total electricity generation from renewable sources by 2030 and at least 30 percent by 2040. Considering feasibility and reality, the following targets have been set for the renewable electricity sector in Bangladesh until 2030:
These include: 5,500 MW from rooftop solar power, 4,500 MW from ground-mounted solar power, and 450-550 MW from other technologies such as wind, waste-to-energy, hydro, floating solar, agrivoltaics, etc.
The Prime Minister further stated that to encourage electricity generation from renewable sources, the government has already provided conditional exemptions from all applicable customs duties, regulatory duties, supplementary duties, advance tax, and an additional 2 percent advance income tax on essential products for solar power installation (solar panels, inverters, batteries, structures). Most recently, on September 1, the maximum cost for rooftop solar power production, including batteries, was set at BDT 8 (eight) per unit.
He mentioned that as part of special incentives, a gazette notification has been issued, setting the price of electricity at BDT 10.50 per unit, considering a 20 percent profit on production cost and an 11.25 percent premium.
According to the notification, customers who install rooftop solar power systems following the Net Metering Guidelines, 2025, by February 28 of next year and supply surplus electricity to the national grid after their own use, will receive BDT 10.50 per unit for the electricity supplied to the national grid for the next 3 (three) years, i.e., until February 28, 2030.’
Informing the Parliament, the Prime Minister stated that to promote renewable energy, the government has already formulated the following policies/guidelines: ‘Guideline for Developing Renewable Energy Projects on Government-Owned Land under PPP Method, 2026’ and ‘Policy for Increasing Private Participation in Renewable Energy-Based Power Generation, 2025’, Renewable Energy Policy, 2025, Net Metering Guideline, 2025, National Rooftop Solar Program, 2025, Business Model for Waste-to-Energy Production, ‘Onshore Wind Guideline’, and ‘Guideline on Carbon Credit Processing.’