BPDB plans 442 MW solar plant on unused Rampal site

The Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) plans to build a 442 MW solar power plant on unused land adjacent to the 1,320 MW Rampal thermal station in Bagerhat, at an estimated cost of BDT 24.98 billion. BPDB recently submitted its Development Project Proposal (DPP) to the Planning Commission.

The 685-acre site was originally earmarked for the second phase of the Rampal coal plant but lay idle after the previous Awami League government adopted a policy against building new coal-fired power stations. BPDB now plans to install the 442 MW DC solar plant on the site.

Work is scheduled to run from September of the current 2026–27 fiscal year to June 2029. BPDB will provide BDT 3.74 billion from its own resources, while the remaining BDT 21.24 billion will come from the Power Sector Development Fund. The estimate is based on an exchange rate of BDT 123 to the US dollar.

The 1,320 MW coal plant at Rampal is operational and run by Bangladesh-India Friendship Power Company Limited (BIFPCL), a joint venture equally owned by India’s state-owned NTPC and Bangladesh’s BPDB.

Policy approval for the adjacent solar project was granted at a ministerial meeting after the Planning Commission sought clearance from Finance and Planning Minister Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury.

Two senior Industry and Energy Division officials told Bonik Barta on condition of anonymity that the division sought the minister’s clearance because of past controversies surrounding the Rampal plant. Verbal approval was granted, but a Project Evaluation Committee (PEC) meeting has yet to be held, they said. BPDB remains a loss-making entity and relies on substantial government subsidies to cover its power purchases. Asked where the financing for a large-scale solar power project would come from under such circumstances, Planning Commission officials said the PEC meeting would scrutinize the project’s funding structure and cost estimates.

“We have past experience with the costs of building solar power plants and with power purchase arrangements. So any additional costs built into the project will inevitably come under scrutiny,” one official said.

According to the proposal, BPDB’s generation cost is projected at BDT 2.94 per kilowatt-hour, against a viable tariff of BDT 6.33 and a regulated selling rate of BDT 8.39 set by the Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission. BPDB Chairman Md Rezaul Karim confirmed to Bonik Barta that the utility would use the long-idle site.

“The land was acquired for the second phase of the thermal plant but remained unused after environmental concerns arose,” he said. “BPDB will now build the solar plant using its own financing.”

The project is part of a government drive to achieve 10,000 MW of solar capacity by 2030. The initiative is backed by waivers on customs duty, regulatory duty, supplementary duty, and advance tax for solar-sector components and batteries until 2031.