Chinese-invest first wind power plant in Bangladesh fully into operation

DHAKA -- With the last wind-driven generator installed, Cox's Bazar wind plant, the first centralized wind power project in Bangladesh invested and constructed by Chinese enterprises, was fully put into operation on Sunday.

The wind power project, located in Bangladesh's southeastern Cox's Bazar district, some 400 km away from capital Dhaka, is invested by Wuling Power Corp., a subsidiary of China's State Power Investment Corp. (SPIC), and built by PowerChina Chengdu Engineering Corp..

Upon full operation, the project will provide Bangladesh with about 145 million kWh of clean electricity per year, reduce coal consumption by 44,600 tons and carbon dioxide emissions by 109,200 tons, as well as meet the electricity demand of 100,000 households.

Md. Abdul Kader Goni, the executive engineer of Bangladesh Power Development Board, told Xinhua that Bangladesh entered the era of first commercial wind power with the establishment of the wind power plant at Cox's Bazar.

Hei Zhao, general manager of Bangladesh division of Wuling Power Corp., said this is the first time that Chinese enterprises have introduced wind power into Bangladesh as investors, filling the gap in the wind power field 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 batch of practical talents in the field of wind power for Bangladesh and providing more than 1,500 local jobs," he added.

Manik Ahamed, the Bangladeshi engineer of the project, said that Bangladesh needs this kind of energy. "I have learned a lot from this project, such as how to produce more energy with wind and how to safely produce electricity in the grid of Bangladesh. It's hoped that I can do more for our power and energy development."

"Now, the cooperation of the two countries in the energy field under the Belt and Road Initiative has achieved fruitful outcomes such as this first-ever wind power project in Cox's Bazar. In the future, we hope that we can have more and more highly qualified cooperation like this to contribute to our energy field development," Goni stressed.