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Research on renewable energy at DU

Taslima Rawshan

Renewable energy (Non-Conventional Energy) is defined as energy derived from resources that are regenerative or for all practical purposes cannot be depleted. Sources of renewable energy contribute approximately 25% of human energy use worldwide. The prime source of renewable energy is solar radiation, i.e. sunlight.

Mankind's traditional use of wind, water, and solar power are widespread in developed and developing countries; but the mass production of electricity using renewable energy sources has become commonplace only recently, reflecting the major threats of climate change due to pollution, exhaustion of fossil fuels, and the environmental, social and political risks of fossil fuels and nuclear power.

There are different kinds of renewable energy sources. Some of them are solar energy, Biomass, Wind energy, Small hydro, Geothermal, Solar thermal energy, Marine renewable energy resources and Waste to energy. In Bangladesh Solar, wind, hydro and biomass are used most frequently.

There is a place In Dhaka University where research on renewable energy is conducted, known as Renewable Energy Research Centre (RERC). It was established in 1980. This centre mainly works on Solar and Wind energy. It's the only centre in Bangladesh where solar radiation is measured with automatic computerized system every minute. They have their own Energy Park, which is open for all, in front of their research centre. A number of solar panel, solar hot water system, solar dryer, solar cooker and water pumping systems have been placed there. Usually students of Physics, Applied Physics, Chemistry, Applied chemistry, Botany, Zoology and Fisheries departments do their higher research studies like M.Phil or P.hD in this Centre. Researchers accept projects on related topics, and after completion of their projects submit a thesis paper. Every year there are a number of university funded projects as well as foreign funded projects.

The Renewable Energy Research Centre (RERC) has the following aims and objectives:

i) To organize research activities in the field of Solar, wind and other alternative sources of energy.

ii) To encourage research projects for utilization of solar energy in Bangladesh.

iii) To help multidisciplinary research activities in this field.

iv) To look for international assistance and collaborations in this field.

v) To co-ordinate and establish liaison with scientists and engineers working in other institutions in the country or abroad.

vi) To collect information and literature on research in the fields of solar and other alternative energy sources and to disseminate them among the research workers.

Other regular activities of this research centre are to suggest on whether it is financially and technically feasible to install a solar system or a solar wind/solar diesel hybrid system. This choice is mostly dependent on which resource is more available to a particular area. For instance, in coastal areas, which renewable energy is feasible: solar or wind?

The weather forecasting division of the Government of Bangladesh, through support logging system, manually measures the solar radiation of a particular area. But they do this for only 7 locations. These are Bogra, Sylhet, Dinajpur, Chuadanga, Dhaka, Satkhira and Rangamati. They only measure radiations in these seven places and, based on these, provide estimated data for the other districts.

The Bangladesh Meteorological Department, under the Government of Bangladesh, also measures solar radiation and other related parameters. Out of 31 monitoring stations they are measuring solar radiation for only 7. RERC has developed correlation parameters to find out solar radiation for other positions based on other data like sunshine duration or cloud cover data.

To get all data for the entire country the Renewable Energy Research Center of Dhaka University is doing a project called SWERA (Solar and Wind Energy Resource Assessment) with the support of UNEP. Partners from various countries are involved in this project. This is one of the long-term projects in RERC. The project is preparing solar and wind energy resource maps over Bangladesh. They have one map using their own regular measured solar radiation data for 2002-2006 and from estimation using BMD.

What is SWERA? SWERA means (Solar and Wind Resource Assessment). The overall aim of SWERA is to bring sustainable energy approaches to developing countries through increased investment in renewable energy projects. The database and analytical tools developed through SWERA will help governments develop realistic energy policies and programmes that are based on sound knowledge of available renewable resources.

Countries involved in the SWERA effort include: Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Cuba, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guatemala, Honduras, Kenya, Nepal, Nicaragua, and Sri Lanka. Till now, this project has not been launched in Bangladesh. But its work has almost finished and it will be launched very soon.

SWERA is creating a global archive of information and a technical review service that can help developing countries evaluate their renewable energy resources.

When completed, the global archive will include existing wind energy resource data such as:

* Global ocean surface wind speeds (applicable to coastlines and small islands),

* High resolution maps from countries where previous mapping has been undertaken, and

* New wind maps in 5-7 regions.

Solar and wind energy information collected through SWERA will be assembled into widely usable CD-ROMS, and incorporated into a user-friendly Geographical Information System (GIS) tool.

In Bangladesh this CD-ROM will be given free of cost to users at the event of launching. There will also be a website where all data of the whole country will be provided. If anybody wants a get data for a particular area then he just has to click on that area on the map to get all the data for that place. It is just like a toolkit that can give reliable, accurate and easily accessible data. This is very important for installing a solar panel or windmill because it gives necessary data about the viability. SWERA is designed to give a number of outcomes including consistent, reliable, verifiable, accessible global data for international and local investors as well as other stakeholders.

Further, the centre is now researching about connecting the electricity collected from solar panels to the national grid. They are also conducting a feasibility research on this ground. If it can be done then they hope to reduce the power crisis.

Renewable research centre---
Has recently started a short course of one and a half month relating to renewable energy. Two batches have already finished the course. The centre wants to start a long course in this same area later.

Organizes an annual exhibition in the campus. In 2004 they held an exhibition in Bogra with help from LGED.
Every year the centre arranges a year ending seminar.

An Ex-Research Associate who supported me by giving information said that the Research Centre is doing projects and innovating new ideas but cannot implement them fully due to some drawbacks. The authorities are supporting them but more financial and technological support would enable them to implement new innovative projects more efficiently and effectively. Moreover, the Government's plan is that by the year 2020, 10% of total electricity will come from renewable resources. In Bangladesh the number of solar system installations is on the rise. Now Government and others can take an initiative to install a small solar panel manufacturing setup from ingot or wafers. It will reduce the price and one can sell those in foreign countries.

Biogas plants are now popular in rural areas. More steps can be taken to popularize the proved solar water heating system, solar cooker or solar dryer. It requires proper planning from Government and NGO level.

Renewable energy is the ultimate solution for power crisis. It is also the technique to keep the environment clean by reducing Green House Gas. In spite of inadequate funding this center is trying its best to run parallel with other international research centers in this field.

(The writer expresses her thanks to Mr. Himangshu Ranjan Ghosh; Research Associate and Mr. Shafiuzzaman Khan; Ex-Research Associate; Renewable Energy Research Centre, University of Dhaka for their assistance regarding information)