Bangladesh Standard and Testing Institution (BSTI) is working with other government institutions as well as the private sector to upgrade the country’s testing, certification and quality compliance regime in the area of rooftop solar power, said Dr Md Nazrul Anwar, Director General of BSTI. He informed that 69 new labs are going to be established of which 21 for physical testing targeting 2041. He added there are 229 products for which compulsory certification is required. The dialogue was organised by Business Initiative Leading Development (BUILD) with IFC’s Partnership for Cleaner Textile (PaCT) project. He mentioned that BSTI has already introduced the Bangladesh Standards (BDS) for four critical equipment of rooftop solar power and has made it compulsory to get certification from BSTI for the sale or marketing of these products.
Ferdaus Ara Begum, Chief Executive Officer of BUILD, welcomed the audience and thanked BSTI for its reforms. She stressed that for complying with the emerging challenges and upcoming targets for the renewable energy sector, the quality and regulatory issues must be addressed for rooftop solar plants. It would, for example, be essential to get the manufacturers, importers and businesses involved in rooftop solar equipment supply registered with a relevant government agency such as the Sustainable and Renewable Energy Development Authority (SREDA).
In a presentation on quality management issues in rooftop solar power, Md Tahmid Zami, Additional Research Director (ARD) of BUILD, mentioned that the existing laboratories that test rooftop solar equipment every so often lacks the technology and capacity for testing specific components, especially the ones that have higher capacity.
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