Boosting the Resilience of Rural Electrification in Bangladesh: Addressing climate vulnerabilities in Bangladesh's rural ... - ReliefWeb

Boosting the Resilience of Rural Electrification in Bangladesh: Addressing climate vulnerabilities in Bangladesh’s rural power system - Bangladesh | ReliefWeb

AT A GLANCE

Country: Bangladesh

Risks: Multi-Hazard

Area of Engagement: Promoting resilient infrastructure

GFDRR is assisting Bangladesh to enhance the climate resilience of its rural power system through a combination of risk mapping, knowledge transfer, and innovative solutions.

RURAL ELECTRICITY ACCESS UNDERMINED BY DISASTER RISKS

Highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, Bangladesh experiences frequent tropical cyclones, river and coastal flooding, and high winds. The country faces the additional threat of sea-level rise as the climate changes, exacerbating the impact of extreme weather and natural hazards. The escalating frequency of disasters is impacting power generation, transmission, and distribution, which, in turn, is jeopardizing the reliability and affordability of electricity services. Over the past decade, the Bangladesh Rural Electrification Board (BREB) has achieved remarkable success in implementing one of the largest rural electrification initiatives worldwide, extending electricity access to over 90 million people. But BREB’s prioritization of achieving 100 percent electricity access came at the expense of investments to strengthen the network against extreme weather and modernize its management. Improving network resilience and flexibility — with the support of the World Bank and development partners — has become a central goal of the government.

GOING BEYOND POWER GENERATION TO ENHANCE INFRASTRUCTURE RESILIENCE

Enabled by financing and technical support from GFDRR, the World Bank has supported BREB to integrate weather-related hazard and climate risk data into the design of Bangladesh’s rural power system. Despite the challenges, such as limited data availability on specific attributes of the distribution network, the technical assistance provided by GFDRR through two grants yielded valuable insights and knowledge on mainstreaming climate resilience into Bangladesh’s rural electrical distribution networks. It also directly informed World Bank-financed energy operations, particularly the $500 million Bangladesh Electricity Distribution Modernization Program (EDMP), which is helping BREB to prepare a climateresilient Rural Distribution Master Plan. This master plan will be the backbone of a modern, reliable, and resilient power system, and constitutes a central part of the Integrated Energy and Power Master Plan, due for release by the Bangladesh government in 2023.