Energy plays a very significant and diversified role in the development of human civilization. Renewable energy is becoming more and more popular as it is environment friendly, cost effective and is suitable to small, off grid applications sometimes in the rural and remote areas where energy is generally crucial for any sort of development. It potentially utilizes natural

resources such as sunlight, wind and tides that are naturally replenished. The technical potential of their use is very large, exceeding all other readily available sources.

Solar Energy

Shariatpur is a river-girt district having extensive char areas around. The working area of SDS has therefore a huge potential for Solar Electricity as it difficult for the National Power grid to make its access to the remote char areas. SDS has made the onset in the field of renewable energy in 2006. As the introductory step, SDS has provided a series of awareness raising

campaign to make the people informed about solar energy, its usage and benefit and so on. In the reporting period, SDS has successfully installed 11 Nos. solar home systems in the char areas of Shariatpur district.

Biogas

Biogas can easily be produced form current waste, such as sewage, animal waste and the other wastages available around us. The various waste streams are slurried together and allowed to naturally ferment producing methane gas. The good thing of it is when the biogas plant has extracted all the methane it can, the remainders are sometimes better suitable as

fertilizer that the original biomass.

However, SDS has come to a formal understanding with the Infrastructure Development Company Ltd. (IDCOL) under National Domestic Biogas Plant and Manure Management system. Under the Renewable Energy Program SDS has developed 33 Biogas plants at Baghar Para and Monirampur Upazila of Jessore district and Damurhuda of Chuadanga for domestic lighting purpose. SDS has so far installed over 80 such plants that are operating very efficiently offering intended benefit to the users.