Power outages are set to ease considerably from next week, but will not cease immediately, said Energy Minister Iqbal Hassan Mahmood on Monday.

“Current load shedding stands at 1,200 to 1,500 megawatts. From next week the figure should drop to 800 to 900 megawatts. A complete halt, however, is not possible at this moment,” the minister said while speaking at the ‘Fourth Bangladesh-China Renewable Energy Forum’ organised by the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) at a city hotel.

The minister cited mounting financial strain as a key constraint, disclosing that outstanding dues owed to power-importing entities have swelled to Tk 56,000 crore.

Compounding the fiscal burden, the ongoing Middle East crisis has already cost the country an additional $2 billion in energy expenditure, forcing the government to manage its resources with extreme caution.

Reflecting on the structural woes inherited by his ministry, Iqbal said, “Every time I have taken charge of this ministry, I have had to start from a deficit – in 2001 and again now in 2026. Unnecessary projects were executed whose financial liabilities we are now bearing.”

He noted a stark mismatch between installed capacity and actual demand: while national electricity demand stands at 18,000 megawatts, installed generation capacity was expanded to 30,000 megawatts in previous years. “Despite the surplus capacity, raw material shortages have left many plants idle, yet the government continues to pay for their upkeep.”

He cited the Rupsha power plant in Khulna shuttered for three years after a plan to supply it with Bhola gas failed to materialise, as a telling example of this mismanagement.

Turning to the path forward, the minister identified renewable energy, particularly solar as the most viable exit from the current crisis. “The government has set a target of generating 10,000 megawatts of solar power within five years.”

“Prime Minister Tarique Rahman wants work to begin today, if possible,” Iqbal said, adding that land scarcity remains the chief obstacle to large-scale solar deployment.

To address this, the government has decided to lease out state-owned khas land to the private sector for solar plant construction, alongside tax incentives for solar energy businesses, he said.

The Prime Minister has already directed the preparation of a ‘khas’ land inventory through an inter-ministerial meeting convened for this purpose, the minister said.

Distancing the current administration from coercive energy policies of the past, the minister criticised the previous government’s mandatory rooftop solar panel directive.

“The previous fascist government forced solar panels onto every multi-storey building by diktat. Panels were installed, but electricity never came from them. We want to bring people to solar energy through encouragement, not compulsion.”