Bangladesh opens rooftop and floating solar to private investors

The cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Tarique Rahman approved the ordinance on 18 October. According to TBS, the Law Ministry's legislative division published the text on the night of 19 October, and the gazette notice appeared on 20 October. It covers installations of up to 5 MW on rooftops, courtyards, vacant land, water surfaces and tea gardens, as well as agrivoltaic systems that combine farming with solar. Large ground-mounted plants above 5 MW are excluded.

The ordinance sets out 2 financing models. Under the first (OPEX), the investor builds the system and is repaid from the electricity it generates. Under the second (CAPEX), the customer finances and owns the system. CAPEX buyers may procure goods and services worth up to 5 crore taka (50 million taka) through limited tendering, without the mandatory e-procurement system. Surplus power fed to the grid will be offset against bills through net metering; no cash payment tariff had been announced as of 22 October.

TBS reported on 20 October that Cabinet Secretary Nasimul Gani said the ongoing war had heightened energy vulnerability, making solar critical. According to the Daily Star, the government expects most of the 3,000–4,000 MW to come from small distributed projects. The ordinance sets penalties of up to 3 years in prison and a 50,000 taka fine for stealing solar power or equipment, and up to 5 years for damaging equipment. On 22 October Shafiqul Alam of the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) said tying equipment quality solely to the Bangladeshi standard was inadequate.