How to Finance Rooftop Solar for a Factory in Bangladesh
Published 2026-10-13.
A garment or textile factory in Bangladesh has acres of flat roof and a grid bill that, by The Daily Star's reporting, runs at Tk 10 to 12 per kilowatt-hour. Rooftop solar is the obvious answer, and European buyers increasingly expect it. The obstacle is money: solar costs a lot up front, and ordinary bank loans are short and expensive.
This article explains the main finance routes and what a factory needs to apply.
How much roof there is
A Centre for Policy Dialogue study estimated the technical rooftop solar potential of the ready-made garment sector at about 1,768 MWp across 2,303 factories, and found that around 1,359 of them could become investable with credit enhancement, interest subsidies and longer loan tenors. It reported that SMEs face commercial lending rates of 9 to 12 percent.
Route 1: IDCOL's rooftop solar programme
IDCOL, the state-owned infrastructure finance company, publishes these terms for rooftop solar:
- Loan: up to 80 percent of project cost.
- Tenor: 10 years, with a 1-year grace period on principal and monthly repayment.
- Rate: fixed at 5.5 percent a year for a tranche of 50 percent of the loan amount, or 5.0 percent for a 75 percent tranche, as listed on its page.
The Daily Star reported that IDCOL had financed 165 MWp across 52 factories. Confirm the current terms directly with IDCOL, as published rates can change.
Route 2: Pay for the power, not the panels
Under a RESCO or OPEX model, a developer installs and owns the system on your roof and sells you the electricity at an agreed rate, usually below the grid tariff. You invest nothing up front, and the developer arranges the finance, often through the same channels. IDCOL supports both the CAPEX model, where the factory owns the system, and the RESCO model.
Route 3: Bangladesh Bank green refinancing
Bangladesh Bank refinances banks for listed green products, and its Green Transformation Fund covers imported green machinery for exporters. See green loans for garment factories in Dhaka.
Net metering
Net metering lets a factory export surplus power to the grid. The Daily Star reported that it often takes months of paperwork and multiple approvals, and that it had not yet been implemented in export processing zones, where BEPZA said it was moving to introduce it under SREDA's Net Metering Guidelines 2025. Size the system to your own daytime load so the project works without relying on exports.
What to prepare
- Twelve months of electricity bills with units and time-of-day split, plus diesel invoices if you run generators.
- A structural certificate that the roof can carry the panels.
- Developer quotations with expected annual generation.
- Ownership or lease documents for the roof.
Senseible reads electricity bills and generator fuel invoices and shows energy and emissions per month, each linked to its source, which gives both the lender and your buyers the before-and-after record. For buyer requirements, see CBAM and CSDDD for Bangladesh garment exporters.
Confirm current terms with IDCOL or your bank before you apply.
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