KfW to finance Bangladesh canal-top PV study
German development bank KfW will fund and provide technical support for a study into Bangladesh’s canal-top solar potential.
A pilot project will be set up on one or two 1km-long stretches of canal following the study. The thousands of kilometers of irrigation canals owned by the Bangladesh Water Development Board could host almost 1GW of solar generation capacity, according to Helal Uddin, chairman of Bangladesh’s Sustainable and Renewable Energy Development Authority.
He said the board has canals across the country including in the districts of Khulna, Rangpur and Rajshahi. The Teesta barrage and Barind Integrated Area Development Project also have hundreds of kilometers of canals where solar panels could be installed, according to Uddin.
