BANGLADESH / SOLAR POWER

Bangladesh has become the world’s fastest growing market for solar home systems. Solar energy is not only replacing expensive fuels, it also has become a tool of social change, empowering girls and women. (WORLD BANK)

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:02:01
• Production Date: 15 August 2013
• Asset Language: Original
• Corporate Name: WORLD BANK
• Subject Topical: DEVELOPMENT; ENERGY RESOURCES; DEVELOPMENT; TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER; PROMOTION; SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
• Geographic Subject: BANGLADESH
• MAMS Id: U130815a

Description

STORY: BANGLADESH / SOLAR POWER
TRT: 02:01
SOURCE: WORLD BANK
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: BANGLA / NATS

DATELINE: MAY 2013, SUNDWIP ISLAND, BANGLADESH

Shotlist

MAY 2013, SUNDWIP ISLAND, BANGLADESH

1. Tilt up, from bucket to woman pumping water
2. Med shot, solar panel on roof
3. Pan right, a woman pointing to circuit panel
4. Med shot, TV and fan on a table
5. SOUNDBITE (Bangla) Mussamat Farida: “Now, we can watch TV, charge cell phones, play CDs and even use a fan.”
6. Pan right, river in Dhaka
7. Wide shot, taxi boat
8. Close up, solar panels
9. Pan right, solar power plant
10. Wide shot, batteries in solar power plant
11. Wide shot, large solar panels in a field with farmers
12. Med shot, village road with bicycles and houses with solar panels on their roofs
13. Med shot, solar panel on a roof
14. Wide shot, solar panel and merchandise display
15. Wide shot, Farmers threshing with a gasoline powered machine
16. Med shot, boy studying in school
17. Wide shot, boys raising arms in school
18. SOUNDBITE (Bangla) Allauddin teacher: “In the past people were not interested in educating their daughters. It was too expensive for them they only cared about the boys. But now, using solar light, they have reduced their expenses. Now they can have both boys and girls study under the same light.”
19. Pan right, girls in classroom
20. Med shot, house ceiling with light bulb posters on wall
21. Med shot, girl studying facing her father
22. Close up, school book
23. SOUNDBITE (Bangla) Kusum Koli Roy, student ten years old: “We can study much better now. The solar lights have helped us a lot with our education.”
24. Tilt up, from girl and her father to ceiling with light bulbs

Storyline

Like many households in rural Bangladesh, Mussamat Farida has no access to public utilities. She has her own well and recently bought a solar home system; a chance to power a TV and other small appliances.

SOUNDBITE (Bangla) Mussamat Farida: “Now, we can watch TV, charge cell phones, play CDs and even use a fan.”

Bangladesh has many rivers and low lying land that make it difficult to build an extensive electric grid. The solution: solar power.

Mini solar power plants light up hospitals and schools. Solar cells fuel irrigation pumps and more than 2 million households have installed individual solar panels making Bangladesh the world’s fastest growing market for solar home systems.

And solar power in Bangladesh means more than just convenience. Solar electricity is cheaper here than fuel for outdated machinery or kerosene for lamps.

Leading to changes in long held traditions in the countryside for example, reserving the expensive kerosene lamp for boys to do their school homework.

SOUNDBITE (Bangla) Allauddin teacher: “In the past people were not interested in educating their daughters. It was too expensive for them they only cared about the boys. But now, using solar light, they have reduced their expenses. Now they can have both boys and girls study under the same light.”

Ten year old Kusum Koli Roy lives with her family in a modest home with a solar home system. Every night she studies under solar light; learning English often with the help of her father.

SOUNDBITE (Bangla) Kusum Koli Roy, student ten years old: “We can study much better now. The solar lights have helped us a lot with our education.”

And there are plenty of girls like Kusum who now have a chance to study Bangladesh has 60,000 families installing a new solar home system every month.