Mushir Ahmed

Renewable energy leader Rahimafrooz said it has trebled its industrial battery production to cater to a dramatic expansion in the country's solar energy systems.

Niaz Rahim told the FE that they have relocated the factory to Savar this year and it would produce nearly one million industrial batteries a year.

He said they have ramped up production to cope with growing battery needs in the country's renewable energy industry.

"All the solar energy providers buy batteries from us. As they are growing too fast, we had to expand our production to cope with this soaring demand," he said.

The Group, which leads the automative battery industry in the region, also sells industrial battery for power stations and telecom industry and exports a chunk of it to neigjbouring countries.

The expansion came as the solar energy is witnessing a dramatic expansion after years of moribund growth.

The number of solar power users almost doubled in the country over the last 15 months to around 295,000 till March 31 this year, according to a government statistics.

Abser Kamal, general manager of Grameen Shakti, the leading solar energy provider, said the company now buys some 10,000-15,000 batteries a month from Rahimafrooz, up from a monthly 200 even four years back.

"The expansion in battery production would pave the way for speedy growth of the solar energy industry," he said.

Rahimafrooz also sells some 2000 batteries a month of its sister charity, Rural Services Foundation, which is the third largest provider of solar energy in the country.

Set up in 2006, RSF has now installed some 30,000 solar household systems through a network of some 115 offices spread across rural Bangladesh.

This year the RSF has even overtaken leading charity Brac in terms of growth but still trails behind GS by a wide margin.

Ruhul Quddus, the chief of RSF, said the charity would add another 50,000 households this year and would set up another 400 offices by 2010.

All this has put Rahimafrooz at an ideal position to reap the benefit, despite the entry of half a dozen new battery producers.

"We are confident solar energy would be a billion dollar industry here very soon. Already we can see the signs after years of investing our time and energy to open up people's eyes," said Rahim.

The company has also set up a $25 million factory in Iswardi Export Processing Zone. Rahimafrooz Globatt would produce 2.5 million batteries when it goes into production within weeks.