Promoting solar power in Bangladesh involves off-grid methods like Solar Home Systems (SHS), solar rooftops, solar irrigation, and on-grid installations of solar parks. A GIS-modelled analysis revealed Bangladesh’s maximum installable generation capacity for Solar PV is 191 GW, with grid-connected solar parks capable of 177 GW. Because of the unavailability of suitable lands and the constraints in grid connectivity around 1.7% of the total land of the country can be used for solar parks to produce around 50 GW of electricity according to the researchers.

Solar rooftops can offer a solution to help Bangladesh utilise the full potential of solar energy. To enhance solar rooftop installations, the lessons from the Solar Home Systems (SHS) can be beneficial to policymakers. 

This policy brief has provided a short history of SHS in Bangladesh and the reasons behind its stagnation in recent years though it was once termed as a major success story of the country.

About the Author: Aaqib Md Shatil is the Co-Lead of Energy and Infrastructure Policy Network at Youth Policy Forum