Energy crisis in Bangladesh: Challenges, progress, and prospects for alternative energy resources

Providing uninterrupted and reliable electricity to all at an affordable price is a major undertaking for the governments of increasingly energy-hungry countries. This study assesses the energy supply-demand gap, progress, and prospects of alternative energy sources in Bangladesh. Several methods, including descriptive, trend, and comparative analyses, were carried out using time-series energy data to determine the current and historical energy status. Results show that between 1990 and 2018, the country experienced an approximate 3.05-fold increase in energy consumption from 12,743 to 38,807 ktoe, and a 3.11-fold increase in energy pro-duction from 10,760 to 33,504 ktoe. The shortfall between supply and consumption is approximately 26%, but this can be resolved by addressing energy diversification barriers related to policy, governance through regu-latory actions, investment, transmission and distribution, resources optimisation, energy efficiency, conserva-tion, research and education, and regional cooperation.