Like all rural Bangladeshis, Saidul Islam knows the hardships of summer, when his tin-roofed house turns into a furnace with not enough electricity to power even a fan.

For the 100 million Bangladeshis -- most of them farmers -- who live in the countryside, the notion of electricity supply is little more than an empty promise bandied about by politicians at election time.

At least 14 percent of power generated by various power plants in the country was wasted while in distribution owing to technical reasons, the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) sources said.

India added nearly 3 gw of grid-connected renewable energy in 2008, 2 gw of which came from the wind sector. The government is under intense pressure to increase electricity production and has put strong incentives in place to spur investment into renewable energy from both domestic and foreign investors.

The Cabinet of Ministers has approved a memorandum submitted by Power and Energy Minister W.D.J. Seneviratne to launch a comprehensive rural electrification scheme with financial assistance from the Government of Iran.

NEW DELHI: Apart from giving a major thrust to power reforms and attracting large private investment, the new Government in office will give a big push to the rural electrification programme, curbing aggregate and technical losses (A&T) and working a roadmap for achieving the open access goal propagated by the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, in his last tenure.

The government is likely to take initiative to make the installation of solar power system easier and cost effective in urban areas so people could cope with the mounting power crisis.

Sources said the government is eager to simplify solar power equipment import and offer special bank loan for its import and installation.

Remote villages of Deh Tiko Baran in Jamshoro district will be provided electricity generated through solar technology at a cost of Rs10 million.

MIRZA, May 11

The Iran Aid Project, Asian Development Bank, International Co-operative agency and NORAD have granted loans for the provision of projects to provide electricity to the villages in the North and East under the concept of providing electricity to the villages islandwide, the Power and Energy Ministry said.