Exploring Smart Grid for the future of sustainable energy

A seminar with the motto 'Exploring Smart Grid: Shaping the future of Sustainable Energy’, was held on 27 August at the United International University (UIU). The event was organised by Dhaka Power Distribution Company Limited (DPDC) and co-funded by EU and AFD. 

The 'Construction and Augmentation of Substation Installation of Capacitor Bank and Introduction of Smart Grid in Power System under DPDC Areas (CSCSG Project)' is a project initiated by DPDC, co-funded by the European Union (EU) and Agence Française du Développement (AFD). 

The seminar aimed to discover the endless possibilities of a smarter energy future. This event was facilitated by the implementing partner and official consultant organisation NKSoft Corporation, USA. 

The chair of the session was Prof. Dr. Hasan Sarwar, Dean (School of Science and Engineering) UIU. The special guest was Bikash Dewan, managing director, Dhaka Power Distribution Company Limited (DPDC). Consultants from NkSoftCorporation moderated the seminar and presented the keynote paper.

The EU was represented by its energy team comprising Enrico Lorenzon (first secretary and team leader), Chiara Vidussi (attaché and programme manager, and Shabnam Ishrat, programme manager. 

Enrico Lorenzon underlined the relevance of this project as a stepping stone towards a greener, more efficient and reliable power system in Bangladesh. Thibaut Hamm, Project Officer of AFD, also highlighted the importance of modernising the grid and involving the young generation which represents the future of this country, to tackle Bangladesh’s challenges of tomorrow.

The seminar's objective was to raise awareness on Smart Grid among the next generation talents, to get them into this revolutionary journey to make the country, and its power system, smarter. 

The event started with a welcome speech by Abdul Alim, Project Director, CSCSG Project, and finished with the speech by Prof. Md. Shahriar Ahmed Chowdhury, Director CER, UIU.

With 250 participants from UIU, the seminar was held in an interactive format, allowing students to express their opinions freely.

"We are here to get innovative ideas to accelerate the Smart Grid project," said Abdul Alim and Bikash Dewan.

The dean committed to DPDC to provide special support from UIU to develop smart knowledge and experts to run Smart Grid in Bangladesh. 

This event underlined a joint ambition to unlock the potential of the next generation and build a better future. 

Under this objective, and as part of the EU-AFD funded project, DPDC is planning to conduct a comprehensive communication campaign focused on Smart Grid, targeting six universities and schools.

This activity is part of the project component 'Consultancy services for procurement, implementation, supervision, dissemination, replicability and communication to introduce smart grid under DPDC area on pilot basis' to create awareness on Smart Grid, and to help people be part of this revolutionary journey to build a smart power system in Bangladesh through Smart Grid innovations.

The underlying project "Power Factor Improvement and Smart Grid under Dhaka Power Development Company (DPDC)" is a blended finance project where an EU grant is combined with a soft loan from AFD, for a total of EUR 112 million. The project has the following main features:

• * A total of 1,141,000 people will benefit from a significant improvement in the quality of electricity service;

• * It helps fight climate change by preventing an accumulated 104,000 tons of CO2 emissions per year;

• * It is the first ever-smart grid project in Bangladesh.

Through this project, AFD and the EU are reinforcing their role in supporting the government in the development and rollout of advanced digital solutions in distribution stations and medium-voltage grids. The goal is to equip existing infrastructure with these new, innovative and reliable technologies with a view to ensuring that services are fit for the country’s future. A core aspect of Bangladesh’s economic development strategy is represented by an improved performance of the power sector in terms of generation, transmission, and distribution.

Today, the Smart Grid in Bangladesh is in its initial phases, and it mainly consists of deploying smart meters. Overall, the Smart Grid solution is of great operational value. This innovative tool makes it possible, among others, to carry out maintenance upstream of failures and to optimise the use of equipment (power transformers, circuit breakers, etc.). Real-time algorithms will continuously analyse the hardware connected to the grid and thus extend its life. The digital presence at all levels of the network allow for better knowledge of the network itself and anticipation of outage-related events. A smart grid means a more reliable, resilient grid.

Improving its performance will consequently eliminate the pollution caused by the diesel generators that are used as backup during grid outages.