A Hong Kong-Bangladeshi joint venture is preparing to seek approval for the first, 30 MW slice of a planned 200 MW agrivoltaic and aquavoltaic site in Cox's Bazar.

The PDL-Greene Solar Power Ltd joint venture set up by Hong Kong business Project Development Ltd and Bangladeshi thin-film solar manufacturer Greene Consortium Ltd is preparing to seek approval for 30 MW of solar generation capacity in the county, or upazila, of Teknaf.

“We will soon submit an application to the government seeking permission to set up the power plant,” PDL-Greene Solar MD Sheikh Abu Mahadi told pv magazine.

The cost

The initial project will require a $36.2 million investment and the facility will produce crops and fish, said Mahadi.

The initial development at the site will feature more than 69,000 unbranded bifacial solar modules across 114 acres.

A further 650 acres is available for the planned 170 MW expansion of the solar farm.

“Our funds are 100% secured as our partners have given confirmation,” added Mahadi, who said the developers want the site operational by 2024.

Teknaf is the site of Bangladesh's first utility scale solar site, a 20 MW facility which was switched on in 2018. The area has the highest solar radiance in the country: 1.55 MWh per kilowatt-peak of solar generation capacity per year.

Bangladesh has 788 MW of renewables generation capacity, of which 554.77 MW is solar.

Junior power minister Nasrul Hamid recently said he expects 1.4 GW of new solar capacity to come online by 2025 in Bangladesh.

Green ambition

The nation plans to generate 40% of its electricity from renewables by 2040.

Bangladesh’s first agrivoltaic plant, a 3.77 MW array developed by Solarland China and local company Mostafa Motors, received government approval in December last year.

The developer of that project, Soudia Agro Solar PV Power Plant Ltd, plans to complete the site by October.