Environment and Forest Adviser Syeda Rizwana Hasan on Wednesday said a significant financial burden is associated with the cancellation of power sector contracts though it may seem straightforward.

Finding a way out of unequal power deals, though they continue to bleed the economy, would not be so easy, speakers observed at the inaugural session of a three-day energy conference that began in Dhaka on Wednesday.

Bangladesh Working Group on Ecology and Development along with 23 co-organisers arranged the conference at the BIAM Foundation auditorium at the city’s New Eskaton.

The primary goal of the former government in the power and energy sector seemed to be enabling corruption rather than achieving sustainable development, said Muhammad Fouzul Kabir Khan, adviser to the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources.

The government offering entrepreneurs land and interconnection to the national grid for a rapid expansion of solar energy is welcome. The Power Development Board is also scheduled to, as the energy adviser announced on December 7, begin open calls for 40 renewable energy projects, mostly for solar power. The Awami League government awarded the projects without bidding and the interim government has cancelled the earlier awards to go for an open invitation.

The sun is the ultimate source of energy in all its forms. Plants convert sunlight into chemical energy (food) through the process of photosynthesis. The fossil fuels that we use today come from dead plants and animals, which also derive their energy from the sun. Solar energy is the most abundant resource that can be transformed into heat or electricity.

Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Adviser Muhammad Fouzul Kabir Khan has slammed the previous government for allocating power plants based solely on personal connections bypassing competitive process.

The recently concluded COP29 in Baku left many nations, particularly climate-vulnerable countries like Bangladesh, frustrated. Despite the dire need for urgent action and financial support, the outcomes were underwhelming.

Last Thursday, a group of workers from Mahmud Jeans mercilessly assaulted the factory's deputy managing director, Rafee Mahmud, who is also the son of the factory owner and responsible for overall management of the factory.

The Power Development Board (PDB) can prevent Tk138 billion ($1.2 billion) in annual losses, which are currently being covered by government subsidies, through reforms in the electricity sector, according to a new report.

In a groundbreaking legal move, Bangladesh has become the first South Asian country to challenge the legality of a Japan-backed fossil fuel-based power plan with the Supreme Court (SC), marking a historic step towards climate justice.

Cyclone Remal costs Bangladesh around $622 million in economic losses and damage due to non-operation of the Summit LNG Terminal, according to the US-based Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA).

State-owned energy companies forewarn gas cutoff following impending acute liquidity crisis attributable to nearly Tk 27 billion overdue refund of excess taxes charged by taxmen.

Petrobangla has reported that the gas-supply system is under threat from fund shortfall affecting gas-distribution companies.

Adani Group founder Gautam Adani is already facing allegations by US authorities that he was part of a $265 million bribery scheme in India, charges he has denied, even as one Indian state reviews a power deal with the group and France's TotalEnergies pauses its investments

The immediate-past Awami League government manipulated the power and energy sector by all means possible to benefit its cronies, opening windows for them to pocket public money and then launder it in full awareness of the consequences their actions would bring, revealed the white paper on economy submitted to the interim government on Sunday.

However, the current trend is unpromising, as a little more than Tk2,000 crore was invested in the last six years

Domestic commercial banks need to scale up their investment in solar and wind power projects if the country were to meet its renewable energy goal in its power mix by 2030, according to a recent study.