Prime Minister Tarique Rahman says that farmers will be provided with solar-powered water pumps instead of diesel-powered pumps for irrigation within the next five years.
The prime minister made the remarks during the Prime Minister's Question and Answer Session (PMQs) in parliament on Wednesday.
Meherpur-1 MP Taj Uddin Khan asked whether there was any plan to provide solar power to farmers free of charge in place of the diesel-powered engines typically used for irrigation.
Tarique said, “Yes, the current government has a plan. Wherever water pumps are powered by diesel, In Sha Allah, we will gradually convert them to solar power within the next five years.
The parliament session began at 3:30pm, chaired by Speaker Hafiz Uddin Ahmad.
The first half hour of the day's programme included the PMQs. Eight starred questions were scheduled for the prime minister on Wednesday. He answered three of them and seven supplementary questions.
Tarique outlined the government's action plan to expand renewable energy, solar power plants and other alternative energy sources in response to the Meherpur-1 MP’s question.
He said, "Taking into consideration the country's growing electricity demand, the government has identified renewable energy as a priority sector to reduce our dependence on imported energy. A National Renewable Energy Development Strategy Paper has already been formulated for the period from 2026 to 2030.”
“According to the strategy paper, a goal has been set to achieve at least 20 percent of total electricity generation from renewable sources by 2030 and at least 30 percent of total electricity generation from renewable sources by 2040.”
Taking the potential and realities of the situation into consideration, he said the following renewable energy targets had been set for 2030: 5,500MW from rooftop solar power, 4,500MW from land-based solar power and 450-550MW from other technologies such as wind turbines, hydropower, floating solar, agrivoltaics, etc.
The prime minister said, “To encourage power generation from renewable sources, the government has already provided conditional exemptions from all customs duties, regulatory duties, supplementary duties, advance taxes and additional advance income tax of 2 percent (two percent) on essential products (solar panels, inverters, batteries, structures) for installation of solar power.”
“Most recently, on Sept 1, the cost of rooftop solar power generation, including batteries, has been fixed at a maximum of Tk 8 per unit. As part of the special incentive, the price of electricity per unit has been fixed at Tk 10.50 per unit, taking into consideration a 20 percent profit and 11.25 percent premium on production cost. A notification has been issued after determining the rate.”
He said, ‘‘As per the notification, all esteemed customers who will install rooftop solar power systems by the 28th of February, 2027 and supply surplus electricity to the national grid after their own consumption by following the Net Metering Guidelines, 2025, will receive the price of each unit of electricity supplied to the national grid at the rate of Tk 10.50 for the next three years, i.e. till the 28th of February, 2030.”
Tarique informed the parliament that the government has already formulated guidelines and policies for the promotion of renewable energy.
“Guidelines for the Development of Renewable Energy Projects on Land Owned by Government Agencies under PPP Method, 2026”, “Policy for Increasing Private Participation in Renewable Energy-Based Power Generation, 2025”, the “Renewable Energy Policy, 2025”, “Net Metering Guidelines, 2025”, “National Rooftop Solar Programme, 2025”, “Business Model for Power Generation from Waste and Onshore Wind Guidelines” and “Guidelines on Carbon Credit Processing” are in place, he said.
In response to a supplementary question from MP Nipun Roy Chowdhury, the prime minister said: "There are two types of batteries used for storing solar power. One is a lead battery, which is a normal, traditional battery... and the other is environmentally friendly lithium batteries."
"We, the current government, are trying to encourage the use of lithium. The government will provide all kinds of support to the factories that will set up the manufacturing of lithium batteries."
He said, "Lead batteries use acid, which is very harmful to the environment. That is why we want to discourage it."
"In the future, we may consider – we just spoke about rooftops – making lithium batteries compulsory for rooftop storage."
