Solar Home System (SHS) Program

Increasing access to electricity of rural people through solar home system (SHS) is becoming more popular day by day in Bangladesh. SHS uses PV panels to produce electricity – thereby displacing kerosene conventionally used for lamps as well as diesel used in generators to charge batteries. SHS program was launched to ensure access to clean electricity for the energy starved off-grid rural areas of Bangladesh. The program supplements the Government’s vision of ensuring ‘Access to Electricity for All’ by 2021. More than 4.5 million SHSs have already been installed under IDCOL program in the off-grid rural areas of Bangladesh and about 13 million beneficiaries are getting solar electricity. More than 65,000 SHSs are now being installed every month under the program with average year to year installation growth of 58%. The program replaces 180,000 tons of kerosene having an estimated value of USD 225 million per year. Moreover, around 70,000 people are directly or indirectly involved with the program. The program has been acclaimed as one of the largest and the fastest growing off-grid renewable energy program in the world.

15th November 2010, RDF has signed an agreement with Infrastructure Development Company Limited (IDCOL) of GoB bilateral project for doing work on Solar Home System Component under the Green Resource Mobilization Program (GRMP) of RDF. RDF vigorously started this activity and by the end of June 2013, RDF established 194 branch offices across the country for operation. Up to 2018, RDF has installed a number of 2,12,712 Solar Home Systems among the users of the off-grid areas covering 46 districts in Bangladesh. RDF’s growth rate is 85% over the previous year and hope the growth rate will further increase in coming days. Up to 2019, RDF produced 4.89 MW electricity through Solar Home System.