WEBVTT

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(music)

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[Mehnaz] The US Trade and Development Agency

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is the infrastructure project preparation arm

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of US government.

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When we look at a project like smart grid,

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it is very important to see

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that we are addressing the challenges

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of giving good quality, sustained, 24/7 power

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to these places,

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especially the critical infrastructure,

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including health care.

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And Bangladesh was lagging quite behind.

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And amongst the work which we have done

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with the Boston Consulting Group

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in a sustained way, is on the smart grid

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improvisation and modernization.

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Not only that it is a big priority

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of the country and its administration,

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it is also a big priority to see that

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how we are connecting the best of US businesses

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to these markets.

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<v ->BCG brought in a lot</v>

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of relevant global experience across Europe,

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South America, India.

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So we actually chose two

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of the leading utilities of Bangladesh--

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one in the distribution sector, DPDC,

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and one in the transmission sector, PGCB.

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Now, for those two utilities,

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we created a tailored smart grid roadmap.

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We also realized that preparing our roadmap

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without arranging financing is no good.

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So we engaged with the financiers very early on.

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So we created something called,

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the Smart Grid Innovation Hub.

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People skilled in smart grid technologies,

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smart grid policies, other aspects

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of smart grid strategy will be housed.

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<v Mehnaz>The stakeholders in Bangladesh</v>

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can look at it, learn, because not everyone

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can travel across the globe to see it,

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learn from the in-house expertise

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which was developed.

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<v ->We understood very early on</v>

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that the utilities will not be able

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to handle the smart grid projects

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if we didn't build capacity.

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So we conducted close

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to 20 capacity-building sessions

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for the utilities to actually bring their people

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up to speed on how to handle these projects.

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BCG is at its best when we bring expertise

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from around the world together.

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We brought in smart grid experts

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from South America, from Spain,

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from North America, from Southeast Asia.

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In this case we had more than 50 experts

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engaged in the project.

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<v ->It is a talking grid now,</v>

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and Bangladesh has all the capacities

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which it needs for a baseline structure

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to have that ahead of the curve,

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smart grid center, and smart grid deployment,

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which I really hope to see

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in the next five to ten years coming forward

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in that country.

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(soft gentle music)