With the last wind turbine installed, the Cox’s Bazar Wind Farm, the first centralized wind power project in Bangladesh built by Chinese companies, became fully operational on Sunday.
The wind energy project, located in the Cox’s Bazar district of southeastern Bangladesh, about 400 kilometers from the capital Dhaka, is invested by Wuling Power Corp., a subsidiary of the State Power Investment Corp. (SPIC). of China, and built by PowerChina Chengdu Engineering Corp. .
Once fully operational, the project will provide Bangladesh with around 145 million kWh of clean electricity per year, reduce coal consumption by 44,600 tonnes and carbon dioxide emissions by 109,200 tonnes, and meet the electricity demand of 100,000 homes.
Md. Abdul Kader Goni, executive engineer of the Bangladesh Power Development Board, told Xinhua that Bangladesh entered the era of first commercial wind power with the establishment of the wind power plant in Cox’s Bazar.
Hei Zhao, general manager of Wuling Power Corp.’s Bangladesh division, said this is the first time that Chinese companies have introduced wind energy to Bangladesh as investors, filling the gap in the field of wind energy in Bangladesh.
“During the construction of the project, we used Chinese solutions, Chinese standards and Chinese equipment to promote the sustainable development of Bangladesh’s renewable energy industry, while training the first group of practical talents in the field of wind energy for Bangladesh and providing more of 1,500 local jobs,” he added.
Manik Ahamed, the Bangladeshi engineer on the project, said Bangladesh needs this type of energy. “I have learned a lot from this project, such as how to produce
more energy from wind and how to safely produce electricity on the Bangladesh grid. “It is hoped that we can do more for our energy and energy development.”
“Now, the cooperation of the two countries in the energy field under the Belt and Road Initiative has achieved fruitful results such as this first wind energy project in Cox’s Bazar. In the future, we hope to have more and more qualified cooperation how this will contribute to the development of our energy sector,” Goni stressed.
