Gwenyth Mitchell
Research Mentor: Brian Min
Mentor Department: Political Science, LSA
Author(s): Gwenyth Mitchell, Brian Min
Session: Session 4 (1:00 PM – 1:50 PM)
Presentation Type: Poster 89
Abstract
Since 2022, Bangladesh has been in the midst of a major power crisis. Consistent fuel shortages have led to shortfalls in electricity supply and the implementation of load shedding across the country. Due to the recent nature of this crisis, there is little research on how the electricity cuts have impacted the people and industries of Bangladesh and how these impacts vary across the country. This project aims to address these gaps in understanding by investigating how specific groups or geographical areas may be disproportionately affected by these electricity outages. To accomplish this, we use nighttime satellite data to create high resolution electricity access maps that show how electricity usage at night varies across the country and over time. Additionally, we utilize primary sources such as government data and local news websites to find supporting evidence for how the effects of load shedding vary in intensity. Our preliminary findings suggest that more rural divisions like Rajshahi and Rangpur seem to experience worse instances of load shedding compared to their urban counterparts. While research remains to be done on what specific sectors of rural areas are most heavily affected, such as households or agriculture, this is an important first step in understanding and addressing the wide reaching impacts of Bangladesh’s power crisis.
