Bangladesh Post Offices Go Solar

• Bangladeshi Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications plans to equip 8,500 post offices in the country with solar plus storage
• Project set for completion in early 2018, with 1,500 installations already done
• Local EPC company Omni Power is setting up the project
• The modules will be supplied from Chinese company Astronergy's factory in Germany

Around 8,500 post offices in Bangladesh are being fitted with solar panels manufactured in Germany by Chinese module maker Astronergy. Every post office will have a total of four modules of 250-watt capacity, along with a battery storage device

A total of 1,500 solar installations are already fitted with the entire project scheduled for completion in the beginning of 2018. The Government of Bangladesh is spending $20 million on the entire project, being run by the Bangladeshi Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications.

The solar power will help the post offices operate their computers, scanners and printers, even in off grid regions and those regions that suffer frequent and long power cuts.

Bangladesh based EPC firm Omni Power is setting up and will maintain these installations. Omni Power CEO Syed Bakhtiar Ali said, "Long transport routes and the tropical climate place higher demands on the solar modules. Astronergy is providing us with the excellent module quality we need for this challenging project – and thanks to the highly automated German production, they are able to deliver large quantities in very short timeframes."

Part of the Chinese Chint Group, Astronergy operates a 340 MW production line in Germany.

Bangladesh is aiming to have 10% of its total energy production coming from renewables by 2020.