Prime Minister's Finance and Planning Adviser Dr Rashed Al Mahmud Titumir on Sunday said that the country's energy system was kept in the hands of a few oligarchs through a state-sponsored political economy during the 16 years of the “fascist government”.

He said the current government is working to establish an equality-based society by actively involving citizens in energy system innovations and fostering clean energy adoption, he said at a seminar and joint press briefing titled "Distributed Renewable Energy: The Future Solar Solution for Bangladesh" at ERF auditorium in the capital. 

The event was organised by Economic Reporters' Forum (ERF) in collaboration with the Distributed Renewable Energy Platform (DREP).

Stressing the need for a nationwide social movement to expand clean energy use, Dr. Titumir highlighted three priority areas: building social awareness to protect the environment via clean energy, articulating public demand for renewables, and leveraging microfinance institutions to install small-scale solar panels in rural areas.

"If we can demonstrate the practical use of solar energy for cooking purposes, a large number of people will be encouraged to adopt solar setups," he said adding that animating renewable energy use requires affordable storage system innovations.

He assured that the government is providing privileges for setting up solar panel and storage battery manufacturing plants within Bangladesh to make solar power more affordable. Reiterating that the government is "for the people and by the people," he stressed that innovation and public inclusion are essential to resolving challenges in every sector.

Moderated by Dr. Khondaker Golam Moazzem, Coordinator of DREP, the event opened with remarks from ERF General Secretary Abul Kashem.

Several thematic presentations were delivered by platform partners including ‘Challenges Faced by EPCs and Industry Actors’ by A.S.M. Munir, Company Secretary of the Bangladesh Sustainable and Renewable Energy Association (BSREA);

Role of Awareness in Adoption and Retention of DRE Technologies by Hasan Mehedi, Chief Executive Officer of Coastal Livelihood and Environmental Action Network (CLEAN); Role of Storage in the Future of DRE by Ishtiaque Ahmeti, Director of Engineering & Innovation at SOLshare; and Financing Challenges and Priorities for DRE Expansion by Abul Azad, Manager – Just Energy Transition at ActionAid Bangladesh. 

Md Mehadi Hasan Shamim, Research Associate at the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), was also present as a presenter and discussant.

During the event, DREP officially launched a new public resource website titled "Renewables in Bangladesh". DREP, hosted under The Sunrise Project, a collaborative initiative comprising CPD, ActionAid Bangladesh, SOLshare, BSREA, and CLEAN, aimed at strengthening policies, acts, and institutional mechanisms for distributed renewables in the country.

Key recommendations placed at the seminar:

Residential Sector: Reforming Net Metering by simplifying eligibility, fast-tracking approvals, and launching a unified digital application platform across utilities, establishing dedicated green financing facilities with partial credit guarantees and pay-as-you-save models, rationalising duties on essential PV components, strengthening institutional coordination across SREDA, utilities, and BERC, and repowering legacy Solar Home Systems into hybrid grid-tied systems.

Industrial Sector: Building a RESCO collateral framework, recognising Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) as bankable security to unlock OPEX lending, streamlining Bangladesh Bank's green, refinancing schemes into single-tier disbursements, and building commercial bank capacity for standardized DRE credit appraisals. 

Solar Irrigation: Shifting Solar Irrigation Pumps (SIPs) toward shared ownership farmer cost-sharing models, expanding nationwide net metering for SIPs to sell surplus power, phasing out diesel subsidies while streamlining SIP licensing, bundling SIPs with agricultural equipment financing, and aligning irrigation awareness campaigns with daytime solar generation hours.

Adoption and Retention: Forming a SREDA-led national DRE coordination body to track technology retention rather than just initial installations, institutionalising user feedback loops and field audits, training local technicians for performance-based service contracts, and establishing centralised real-time DRE monitoring systems across all technologies.