Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL), a public sector entity under the administration of Ministry of Power, has distributed over 3 crore LED bulbs under its flagship initiative, the Domestic Efficient Lighting Programme (DELP). The scheme is presently running in six states in India – Rajasthan, Delhi, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh — and is rapidly expanding across all other states. The three crore LED bulbs distributed by EESL will result in an annual energy savings of 4 billion Kwh, capacity addition avoidance of 900 MW and cost savings of Rs 304 crores and has impacted over 90 lakh consumers.
The Hon’ble Prime Minister of India inaugurated the DELP scheme in January 2015, which will be executed across 100 cities. Through this scheme, residential consumers are provided with high quality LED bulbs given at a concessional rate of Rs.100-105 against the market price of Rs 350 to 450. The DELP scheme has also significantly impacted the market price of LED bulbs, through a combination of aggregation and transparent procurement. EESL has been able to procure LED bulbs for Rs 73 as of June 2015, down from Rs 310 in February 2014, a reduction of over 75%.
While officially announcing the milestone, Hon’ble Minister for Power and Renewable Energy, Mr. Piyush Goyal, said: “Over the next few years, India will see a five-fold increase in the electricity demand. A scheme like DELP is an example of India’s commitment to ensuring energy access and its continued efforts towards combatting climate change. EESL’s achievement of distributing over three crore bulbs is commendable. I urge more citizens to come forward, join the #iLEDtheway movement and contribute to the government’s vision of an energy efficient India.”
Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Ajay Mathur, Director General, Bureau of Energy Efficiency, said, “To meet the energy needs of our future, we need to increase electricity generation by at least six times. Energy efficiency will play a key role in this task, as the cost of saving energy is only one-third of the cost of generating it. The three-crore milestone is very significant and EESL has done a great job in achieving it in such a short span of time.”
India has made an international commitment to reduce its carbon emission intensity by 30-35%. Building capacities while adopting and deploying new energy efficient technology, and other technologies to reduce carbon emissions is one of the mitigation strategies that India has.
Mr. Saurabh Kumar, Managing Director, EESL, said: “This achievement is evident of the fact that as a nation we are open to adopting and deploying new energy efficient technology and of our seriousness towards achieving energy efficiency. We are currently distributing more than 15 lakh LEDs every week and this number will only go up. We hope to touch the five-crore milestone soon.”
The target of the DELP is to replace all the 77 crore incandescent bulbs sold in India with LED bulbs. This will result in reduction of 20,000 MW load, energy savings of 105 billion KWh and Green House Gas (GHG) emissions savings of 80 million tons every year. The annual saving in electricity bills of consumers will be Rs. 40,000 crore, considering an average tariff of Rs. 4 per kWh.
