L-R: A man carries a solar panel to install it at a rural home. People install a solar panel, which is a great source of power in off-grid areas. Photo: Grameen ShaktiStar Business Desk
Grameen Shakti (GS) has reached the landmark of the installation of one million solar home systems in the country’s rural areas on November 30, according to a statement yesterday.
At the present rate of expansion, GS will reach the two million homes by the end of 2016.
This expansion has been backed by the loans and subsidies provided by Idcol, a government organisation created with the financial support of the World Bank and other international donors.
GS has enabled around eight million people in Bangladesh to light their homes and businesses using solar power.
Various businesses, including mobile phone shops, electronic repair shops, agricultural and livestock farms, rural hospitals, vaccination centres are now using the system while the country’s mosques and schools also get benefits of such power.
Local production and assembling of accessories at Grameen Technology Centres, run by women engineers and technicians, helped GS serve the clientele in a very cost-effective way.
“Grameen Shakti replaces millions of litres of kerosene by these one million SHS and reduces CO2 emissions substantially. On an average, GS installs over a thousand solar home systems per day, working with a workforce of 12,000 young people,” according to the statement.
Grameen Shakti was established by Nobel Laureate Prof Muhammad Yunus in 1996 to promote renewable energy technologies to the rural people to protect environment and improve living standards simultaneously.
GS reached quarter million homes in April 2009, half a million homes by the end of 2010, and a million at the end of November this year.
Source: The Daily Star
