Stand on a rooftop in Dhaka on a clear afternoon and look at the sunlight falling across the concrete buildings. That sunlight feels ordinary. But every hour, an enormous amount of energy is reaching Bangladesh from the Sun—energy that can be converted into electricity, heat, and useful power.
Today, solar panels are becoming increasingly familiar across Bangladesh, from residential rooftops in Dhaka to commercial buildings, factories, schools, farms and rural installations. But solar energy is far from a new idea.
People have been finding ways to use sunlight for thousands of years.
The technology has evolved from simple sunlight-focused mirrors and carefully designed buildings to modern photovoltaic panels capable of converting a significant percentage of sunlight into electricity. In laboratory conditions, researchers have now pushed solar-cell efficiency beyond 47%, a remarkable leap from the approximately 1% efficiency of some of the earliest solar arrays.
For Bangladesh, this history is more than an interesting scientific story. It helps explain why rooftop solar has become a realistic energy option for homes and businesses today.
Let’s look at how we got here—and what the history of solar energy means for Bangladesh.
A Quick Answer: How Did Solar Energy Evolve?
The history of solar energy can be broadly understood in three major stages.
First came passive solar design. Ancient civilizations learned to position buildings, windows and openings to make better use of sunlight for heating and lighting without producing electricity.
Then, during the 19th century, scientists discovered the photovoltaic effect—the phenomenon that allows certain materials to convert light directly into electrical current.
Finally, during the 20th century, solar cells became practical. The Space Race accelerated investment in photovoltaic technology, while later manufacturing improvements and government policies helped reduce costs dramatically.
Today, solar technology has moved from a scientific curiosity to a mainstream source of electricity.
And in Bangladesh, that evolution is particularly relevant because the country receives substantial sunlight throughout much of the year, while demand for reliable electricity continues to grow.
Ancient Solar Energy: Before Electricity Existed
Long before anyone understood electrons, photovoltaic cells or solar radiation, people were already using the Sun to their advantage.
One of the earliest examples was the use of magnifying glasses and lenses to concentrate sunlight and produce heat. By focusing sunlight onto a small area, people could create enough heat to ignite dry materials.
Later, Greek and Roman engineers experimented with reflective surfaces sometimes described as “burning mirrors.”
This idea is closely associated with the famous story of Archimedes, who allegedly used mirrors to focus sunlight and ignite Roman ships during the siege of Syracuse.
Whether the story actually happened remains debated by historians. But the underlying principle is scientifically real: sunlight can be concentrated to produce intense heat.
The important point is that humans were thinking about solar energy thousands of years before electricity became part of everyday life.
Passive Solar Design: An Ancient Idea That Still Matters
Solar energy was not only about mirrors and fire.
Ancient builders also learned how to design buildings around the movement of the Sun.
Buildings could be positioned to capture sunlight during colder periods and reduce unwanted heat during hotter periods. Windows, walls, roofs and overhangs could all influence how much sunlight entered a building.
The principle is known today as passive solar design.
Interestingly, this concept remains highly relevant in Bangladesh.
Think about a typical Dhaka building. A poorly designed building can become extremely hot during summer, forcing residents and businesses to depend heavily on air conditioning and fans.
Better building orientation, shading, ventilation and roof design can reduce heat gain before electricity is even consumed.
In other words, one of the oldest forms of solar technology is still useful in modern Bangladesh.
The 18th and 19th Centuries: Solar Energy Becomes a Science
For thousands of years, solar energy was primarily used through architecture, heat and mechanical methods.
That began to change during the 18th and 19th centuries.
Swiss scientist Horace de Saussure developed an early solar collector designed to trap heat from sunlight. His experiments demonstrated that sunlight could be captured and converted into useful thermal energy.
Around the same period, researchers and inventors continued experimenting with heat engines and solar-powered mechanical systems.
But the biggest breakthrough was still ahead.
1839: The Discovery of the Photovoltaic Effect
The history of modern solar electricity begins in 1839.
French physicist Edmond Becquerel discovered the photovoltaic effect while experimenting with an electrolytic cell.
He found that when light struck certain materials, it could produce an electrical current.
This discovery was revolutionary.
For the first time, scientists had evidence that sunlight could be converted directly into electricity.
Becquerel was only 19 years old when he made the discovery.
However, discovering the photovoltaic effect did not immediately lead to practical solar panels. It would take many more decades of scientific development before solar electricity became commercially useful.
The discovery simply provided the foundation.
The First Solar Cells
In the 1880s, inventors began producing some of the first practical solar cells using selenium.
In 1883, American inventor Charles Fritts built an early rooftop solar array in New York.
Its efficiency was only around 1%.
Compared with modern solar panels, that number sounds extremely small. But the achievement was significant because it demonstrated that a rooftop could generate electricity from sunlight.
The problem was cost and efficiency.
Selenium solar cells were expensive and produced relatively little electricity, so they remained largely scientific curiosities for decades.
Still, the idea had been proven.
Einstein Helps Explain How Light Produces Electricity
The scientific understanding of solar energy continued to improve.
In 1905, Albert Einstein published his explanation of the photoelectric effect.
His work helped scientists understand how light interacts with matter and how light energy can cause electrons to move.
Einstein’s work later earned him the Nobel Prize in Physics.
This theoretical progress was important because solar technology required more than simply discovering that light could produce electricity. Scientists needed to understand why it happened and how the process could be improved.
The Rise of Silicon Solar Cells
By the 1940s, scientists were increasingly interested in silicon.
Silicon offered major advantages for photovoltaic technology, but early silicon solar cells were still expensive and inefficient.
Solar power was technically possible, but it was nowhere near ready to compete with conventional electricity generation.
That changed in the 1950s.
1954: The Birth of the Modern Solar Panel
In 1954, researchers at Bell Laboratories developed the first practical silicon photovoltaic cell.
This was one of the most important moments in solar energy history.
Unlike earlier experimental cells, the new silicon photovoltaic technology could generate enough electricity to power useful electrical equipment.
It marked the beginning of the modern solar industry.
But there was still one major problem:
Solar cells were expensive.
Nobody expected ordinary households in Dhaka, Chattogram or Rajshahi to put solar panels on their rooftops.
At that stage, solar technology needed a very specific market—one where reliability mattered more than price.
That market was space.
The Space Race Changed Solar Energy Forever
The Space Race created an unexpected opportunity for solar technology.
Satellites needed reliable electricity while orbiting Earth. Traditional fuel-based power sources were impractical for long-term operation in space.
Solar panels, however, could continuously generate electricity whenever the satellite was exposed to sunlight.
The launch of Vanguard I in the late 1950s demonstrated the value of solar cells for spacecraft.
The demand from the space industry pushed researchers to improve photovoltaic efficiency, durability and reliability.
Solar technology began improving rapidly.
What had started as an expensive laboratory experiment was becoming a serious engineering technology.
The early silicon cells had efficiencies of only a few percent. Over time, improvements pushed efficiency much higher.
This is an important lesson in the history of solar energy:
Technology often becomes affordable because demanding applications force engineers to make it better.
How Solar Panels Became Affordable
For decades, solar electricity remained expensive.
The biggest transformation came when solar manufacturing moved from small-scale production to enormous industrial-scale manufacturing.
As factories produced more panels:
- Manufacturing processes became more efficient
- Supply chains improved
- Materials became cheaper
- Solar-cell technology improved
- Production volumes increased
- Competition increased
- Installation practices became more standardized
Government policies also played an important role in creating demand.
Programs in countries such as Germany and the United States encouraged solar adoption, helping manufacturers build larger production capacity.
The result was a dramatic reduction in the cost of solar technology.
Solar gradually moved from being a premium technology to becoming one of the world’s most competitive sources of new electricity generation.
Solar Energy Today: From 1% to More Than 47%
The improvement in solar-cell efficiency is one of the most remarkable parts of this story.
Charles Fritts’ early rooftop solar array was around 1% efficient.
Early practical silicon cells in the 1950s were only a few percent efficient.
Modern commercial solar panels are dramatically better, with many mainstream modules operating roughly in the mid-to-low-20% efficiency range, depending on technology and conditions.
But laboratory research has gone much further.
Researchers have achieved solar-cell efficiencies of more than 47% under specialised laboratory conditions.
It is important to understand what this number means.
A laboratory record does not mean that a typical rooftop panel in Dhaka will produce electricity at 47% efficiency. Laboratory cells often use specialised materials, multi-junction designs and controlled testing conditions that are very different from commercial rooftop modules.
Nevertheless, the number shows just how far photovoltaic technology has progressed.
From approximately 1% to more than 47%.
That is more than a technological improvement.
It is a transformation of what sunlight can realistically do.
What Does Solar Energy History Mean for Bangladesh?
This is where the history becomes particularly relevant.
Bangladesh has a growing need for reliable, affordable and cleaner electricity.
At the same time, the country has an important natural resource:
Sunlight.
For a country like Bangladesh, solar energy does not necessarily mean covering huge areas of land with solar farms.
One of the most practical opportunities is rooftop solar.
Buildings already occupy space. Their rooftops are often unused during most of the day.
A rooftop solar system can use that existing space to generate electricity where it is consumed.
This makes solar particularly interesting for:
- Homes
- Apartment buildings
- Commercial buildings
- Offices
- Factories
- Warehouses
- Schools
- Hospitals
- Shopping centres
- Agricultural facilities
For Dhaka in particular, rooftop solar can provide a way to turn otherwise unused roof space into a small power-generation asset.
Rooftop Solar in Dhaka: Why It Makes Sense
Dhaka has millions of square metres of rooftops.
Yet many rooftops are primarily used for water tanks, drying clothes, telecommunications equipment or simply left unused.
A properly designed solar system can make productive use of part of that space.
However, installing solar in Dhaka is not simply a matter of buying panels and putting them on the roof.
A proper solar assessment should consider:
Roof Area
The available roof space determines how many solar panels can realistically be installed.
Shading
Nearby buildings, water tanks, trees and other structures can reduce solar production.
Electricity Consumption
A household using relatively little electricity needs a different system from a commercial building or factory.
System Type
The right system could be:
- On-grid
- Off-grid
- Hybrid
Battery Requirement
A battery can increase the cost significantly, but it may be important where backup power is required.
Inverter Capacity
The inverter must be properly matched to the solar array and the building’s electrical loads.
This is why a professional solar assessment is more useful than simply choosing a system based on panel wattage.
How Much Does Solar Cost in Bangladesh?
There is no single “solar panel price” that applies to every project in Bangladesh.
The total cost depends on the size and design of the system.
For example, a small backup-oriented solar system for essential household loads can be very different from a larger rooftop system designed to reduce a home’s monthly electricity bill.
A complete solar project may include:
- Solar panels
- Solar inverter
- Mounting structure
- DC and AC cables
- Protection equipment
- Distribution board
- Earthing
- Installation labour
- Monitoring equipment
- Battery, where required
- Net-metering-related equipment, where applicable
Current market discussions in Bangladesh show that panel prices vary considerably by brand, technology and capacity, while batteries and inverters can create a substantial difference in the final system price. Therefore, a realistic quotation should be based on the customer’s actual electricity consumption and roof conditions rather than a generic per-panel price.
For a Bangladesh-focused solar project, Muspana recommends calculating the complete system cost rather than comparing panel prices alone.
What Is Net Metering in Bangladesh?
Net metering is one of the most important developments for rooftop solar users in Bangladesh.
Under a net-metering arrangement, electricity generated by a customer’s renewable-energy system can be used on-site. When the solar system produces more electricity than the premises needs, surplus electricity can be exported to the electricity grid, subject to the applicable rules.
The exported electricity is then accounted for under the country’s net-metering framework.
Bangladesh’s Net Metering Guidelines 2025 were formulated to expand renewable-energy generation at consumers’ premises and facilitate the use of surplus generation through the electricity grid. SREDA’s published information reports more than 3,763 net-metered rooftop solar systems connected across the country’s six electricity distribution utilities, with combined capacity exceeding 185 MW.
This makes rooftop solar more interesting for grid-connected homes and businesses because the system does not necessarily need to store every unit of electricity generated during the day.
However, eligibility, approvals, metering requirements and settlement rules should always be checked against the current requirements of the relevant utility and SREDA.
On-Grid vs Off-Grid vs Hybrid Solar in Bangladesh
Choosing the correct system is more important than simply choosing the biggest solar panel array.
On-Grid Solar
An on-grid system is connected to the electricity grid.
It can be particularly suitable for homes and businesses that want to reduce daytime electricity consumption and potentially use net metering where eligible.
The major advantage is that a large battery bank may not be necessary.
Off-Grid Solar
An off-grid system operates independently from the electricity grid.
It normally requires batteries because electricity must be stored for use when sunlight is unavailable.
This type of system can be useful in locations where grid electricity is unavailable or unreliable.
Hybrid Solar
A hybrid system combines solar generation, grid electricity, battery storage and an inverter.
For many Bangladesh households and businesses looking for both electricity-bill reduction and backup power, a hybrid system can be an attractive option.
The downside is cost.
Batteries can represent a significant part of the total project investment.
Why Solar Is Becoming More Important for Bangladesh
The history of solar energy shows something important.
Solar did not become successful because of one invention.
It developed through thousands of years of experimentation, scientific discoveries, engineering improvements, manufacturing scale and policy support.
Bangladesh is now benefiting from that accumulated progress.
Modern solar panels are far more efficient than the earliest photovoltaic cells. Modern inverters are smarter. Solar monitoring systems can track production in real time. Battery technology has also improved significantly.
Most importantly, the technology is now commercially available at a scale that was unimaginable when the first solar cells were created.
Solar Energy Is Not Just About Electricity Bills
For a Bangladeshi homeowner, solar can be attractive because it may reduce dependence on grid electricity.
For a business, the equation can be even more interesting.
Commercial buildings consume electricity during the daytime—exactly when solar panels are producing electricity.
Factories, offices, warehouses and shopping facilities may therefore have a strong opportunity to use rooftop solar to offset part of their daytime electricity demand.
Solar can also help businesses demonstrate a stronger commitment to sustainability and reduce exposure to long-term energy-cost increases.
But the financial case must be calculated carefully.
A solar system should be evaluated using:
- Initial investment
- Expected electricity generation
- Electricity tariff
- Self-consumption
- Exported electricity
- Battery replacement, if applicable
- Maintenance
- System lifespan
- Financing cost
- Payback period
A cheap solar system is not necessarily the best investment.
A properly designed system that generates more usable electricity over its lifetime can provide better value.
The Future of Solar Energy in Bangladesh
The next stage of solar development will not simply be about putting more panels on rooftops.
We are likely to see greater integration between:
Solar + Batteries + Smart Inverters + Energy Monitoring + Efficient Buildings
This combination could make solar systems significantly more useful for Bangladesh.
Imagine a Dhaka home where solar panels generate electricity during the day, appliances automatically use available solar power, batteries store surplus electricity, and an energy-management system decides when to draw electricity from the grid.
That is no longer science fiction.
The technologies already exist.
The challenge is making them financially attractive, properly designed and widely accessible.
From Archimedes to Dhaka Rooftops
The history of solar energy is ultimately a story about making better use of something that has been available to humanity all along.
More than two thousand years ago, people experimented with concentrating sunlight.
In 1839, Edmond Becquerel demonstrated the photovoltaic effect.
In 1883, Charles Fritts built an early rooftop solar array with approximately 1% efficiency.
In 1954, Bell Labs developed a practical silicon solar cell.
The Space Race pushed photovoltaic technology forward.
Mass manufacturing and government policies helped drive costs down.
And today, laboratory solar cells have achieved efficiencies above 47%.
The technology has travelled an extraordinary distance.
For Bangladesh, the next chapter may be written not in a laboratory or in space, but on the rooftops of Dhaka, Chattogram, Sylhet, Rajshahi, Khulna and cities across the country.
Solar energy has already come a long way.
The question now is how effectively Bangladesh can use it.
Frequently Asked Questions About Solar Energy
What is the history of solar energy?
Solar energy has been used in different forms for thousands of years. Ancient civilizations used sunlight for heating, lighting and concentrating heat. The photovoltaic effect was discovered in 1839, early solar cells appeared in the 19th century, and practical silicon photovoltaic technology emerged in the 1950s.
Who discovered the photovoltaic effect?
French physicist Edmond Becquerel discovered the photovoltaic effect in 1839 while experimenting with an electrolytic cell.
Who invented the first solar panel?
Charles Fritts built one of the earliest rooftop solar arrays in 1883 using selenium cells. Its efficiency was approximately 1%. The first practical silicon photovoltaic cell was developed by Bell Laboratories in 1954.
How efficient are solar panels today?
Commercial solar modules are generally much more efficient than the earliest solar cells, with many modern products operating around the low-to-mid 20% range depending on the technology and conditions. Laboratory research has achieved efficiencies above 47% under specialised conditions.
How much does solar cost in Bangladesh?
Solar system costs in Bangladesh vary according to system capacity, panel brand, inverter, battery requirements, mounting structure, installation complexity and other equipment. A proper quotation should therefore be based on electricity consumption and site conditions rather than a generic panel price.
Is rooftop solar suitable for Dhaka?
It can be. Dhaka has substantial rooftop space, and rooftop solar can help homes and businesses generate electricity locally. However, shading, roof structure, electricity consumption, system type and applicable grid requirements should be assessed before installation.
What is net metering in Bangladesh?
Net metering allows eligible grid-connected consumers with renewable-energy systems to use the electricity they generate and account for surplus electricity exported to the grid under the applicable rules. Bangladesh’s Net Metering Guidelines 2025 provide the current framework for this process.
Is solar worth installing in Bangladesh?
Solar can be a worthwhile investment when the system is properly sized for the building’s electricity consumption and designed around the user’s goals. For some customers, the priority may be reducing electricity bills; for others, it may be backup power or reducing dependence on the grid.
The right answer depends on the building, electricity usage, available roof area, shading, system type and budget.
Thinking About Solar for Your Home or Business
At Muspana, we believe solar should be approached as an engineering and financial decision—not simply as a product purchase.
A properly designed system should consider your electricity consumption, available rooftop area, solar generation potential, inverter requirements, battery needs, grid connection and long-term return on investment.
If you are considering solar panels for a home, office, commercial building or industrial property in Bangladesh, the first step is understanding how much energy you actually need and what your property can realistically generate.
The future of solar in Bangladesh is already being built—one rooftop at a time.
