Bangladesh is blessed with abundant solar resources. Solar power is considered the most desirable energy source to mitigate the high energy demand of this densely populated country. Although various articles deal with solar energy applications in Bangladesh, no detailed review can be found in the literature. Therefore, in this study, we report on the current scenario of renewable energy in Bangladesh and the most significant potential of solar energy’s contribution among multiple renewable energy resources in mitigating energy demand. One main objective of this analysis was to outline the overall view of solar energy applications in Bangladesh to date, as well as the ongoing development of such projects. The technical and theoretical solar energy potential and the technologies available to harvest solar energy were also investigated. A detailed techno-economic design of solar power applications for the garment industry was also simulated to determine the potential of solar energy for this specific scenario. Additionally, renewable energy policies applied in Bangladesh to date are discussed comprehensively, with an emphasis on various ongoing projects undertaken by the government. Moreover, we elaborate global insight into solar power applications and compare Bangladesh’s current solar power scenario with that of other regions worldwide. Furthermore, the potential of artificial intelligence to accelerate solar energy enhancement is delineated comprehensively. Therefore, in this study, we determined the national scenarios of solar power implementation in Bangladesh and projected the most promising approaches for large-scale solar energy applications using artificial intelligence approaches.

This study reviewed the aspects of the production of bioethanol from the agricultural residues available in Bangladesh. The crop residues such as rice, wheat, sugarcane, corn, cotton, jute, and sugarcane have great potential for energy generation in a sustainable and eco-friendly way in Bangladesh, as these residues are available in large quantities. Bioethanol is an alternative fuel to gasoline that provides comparable performance results. Bioethanol from these residues can be used for transportation purposes, as it does not require any major modifications to the spark-ignition engine configuration when using E5 blend (5% Ethanol mixed with 95% of the gasoline). In Bangladesh, approximately 65.36 Mt of agricultural residues are available from the major crops, from which 32 Mt bioethanol can be generated. This study is expected to provide useful concise data with regards to the beneficial utilization of agricultural residues for bioethanol production in Bangladesh.

The demand for renewable sources-based micro-grid systems is increasing all over the world to address the United Nation’s (UN) sustainable development goal 7 (SDG7) “affordable and clean energy”. However, without proper viability analysis, these micro-grid systems might lead to economic losses to both customers and investors. Therefore, this paper aims to explore the feasibility and sustainability of a hybrid micro-grid system based on available renewable resources in remote hill tracts region of Bangladesh. Nine different scenarios are analyzed here, and a combination of solar, hydro, biogas, and diesel generator systems are found to be the best feasible solution in regard to the least cost of electricity and emission. The optimized result shows that with a renewable fraction of 0.995, the unit levelized cost of energy of the micro-grid system is $0.182 and it emits 54 and 117 times less CO2 compared to grid-based and diesel-based systems. Further, the fuel share of the system being 0.5% and greenhouse gas per energy being 0.06425 kg/KWh, validate the system as highly sustainable and eco-friendly. With the ability to fulfill load demands without interrupting supply, and reducing the emissions of greenhouse gases, the designed microgrid can provide sustainable energy solutions to any hill-tracts of Bangladesh.