Prime Bank’s solar push lights up Sonadia Island
On a remote, storm-prone island beyond the national grid, Prime Bank PLC’s solar initiative is doing more than lighting homes; it is reshaping education and connectivity at Bangladesh’s margins
Light is the engine of life. Our lives revolve around light. In its absence, life slows – sometimes to a halt.
For years, that was the reality on Sonadia Island, cut off from the Cox's Bazar coastline by rough waters and fragile connectivity. As dusk fell, the island would retreat into darkness.
There was no electricity, no ceiling fans to soften the coastal heat – only the faint glow of kerosene lamps and the quiet uncertainty of island life.
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Children studied under flickering flames. Letters blurred on the page, eyes burned, yet lessons continued. Nights were long and airless, sleep elusive in the suffocating heat.
That darkness has now given way to a different dawn. Through an initiative by Prime Bank PLC, solar electricity has reached Sonadia's eastern settlement, locally known as Purba Para.
Each household has been equipped with four lights, an electric fan and a power point – small installations that have transformed daily life.
And this is only the beginning. The bank has announced plans to extend the solar programme to Pashchim Para, the western settlement of the island. Installation of panels for the remaining households is expected to be completed within the first half of this year.
Sonadia is home to around 311 families. Surrounded entirely by the sea, the island lives under the constant threat of cyclones, tidal surges and erosion.
Weak transport links and infrastructural constraints have made connection to the national grid nearly impossible.
As a result, the absence of reliable electricity has long constrained education, healthcare and income-generating activities on the island – until now.
Against this backdrop, Prime Bank PLC's Green Renewable Energy Development Project has emerged as a beacon of hope for Sonadia's residents.
Implemented in partnership with Footstep, an organisation working on poverty alleviation and the uplift of socially and environmentally marginalised communities, the initiative was designed not merely to supply electricity, but to transform lives.
A defining feature of the project is its emphasis on sustainability. Prime Bank did not consider its responsibility fulfilled with the installation of solar panels. Instead, it prioritised long-term maintenance and local capacity-building to ensure durability.
Five young islanders have been trained in maintaining the solar systems. They can now identify minor faults, carry out small repairs and perform routine servicing themselves.
The result is twofold: the system's longevity is safeguarded, and the young trainees gain both skills and confidence – assets that extend beyond the immediate project.
With electricity, Sonadia's evenings have been reshaped. Homes glow with steady light; electric fans offer relief from the coastal humidity.
Mobile phones can be charged with ease. Every day life has begun to feel less precarious, more connected to the wider world.
Shakila Begum, a resident of the island, speaks of the change in simple terms, "Previously, after sunset, the children could not study for long under kerosene lamps. Their eyes would burn, and the text would blur. Now, with solar power, they can study for hours. I believe this light will illuminate their future as well."
For Akram Hossain, who spends days at sea fishing, the impact has been equally profound. In the past, a lack of phone charge meant prolonged silence between him and his family. When storms gathered offshore, anxiety deepened in the absence of communication. With reliable electricity, regular contact is now possible.
His wife, Amena Akter, describes the difference: "The sea is always frightening. When my husband went out to fish, we would sometimes hear nothing for a week or two. My heart would race constantly. Now I can speak to him on the phone anytime. It brings a measure of peace."
Today, over Sonadia's horizon, it is not only the sun that shines. There is also the glow of possibility – falling across children's study tables, easing a mother's worry, and allowing a father at sea to remain connected to home.
This is more than electric light. It is the illumination of human initiative, sustainable development and renewed hope.
