Hello and welcome to Lighting India, the oldest magazine and one of the most widely read magazine on the lighting industry in the world. Ever since the Narendra Modi government came to power, there has been a concerted effort to improve energy efficiency in the country. This is quite visible from the fact that the government is expanding the use of LED lamps throughout the country. Apart from the LED lamps the government is keen on increasing the use of more energy-efficient air conditioners and fans.
As I am penning this, the government has distributed 24,50,06,544 LED lamps throughout the country. This translates to saving almost Rs 12,727 crore, avoided a peak power demand of about 6,370 MW and saved nearly 31,820 mn kWh of power. By doing this we have reduced nearly 2.5 tonnes of CO2 per year.
One should give credit to the Bureau of Energy Efficiency or the BEE for laying the foundation for this way back in early 2010 under the UPA -II era. It’s not that everything started with this government coming to power. Almost 10-12 standards were announced and laid down by the Bureau of Indian Standards with regards to LED lamps in 2012. Today, bulk of LED lamps are procured by the government for distribution from the Energy Efficiency Services Limited, a joint venture of NTPC, PFC, REC and PGCIL, which was established, again under the UPA regime.
The target of the government is to replace each and every old fluorescent lamp to LED lamp in the next three years. The government is today selling these LED lamps to the consumers for anywhere between Rs 70 and Rs 100. The government has been able to sell at this rate because it is successful in procuring these 9W lamps at around Rs 55 from different manufacturers, including EESL. It’s a substantial drop in procurement price from the 2014 level of around Rs 300. Will the government be able to keep the prices down once they exit the scheme of distribution of LED lamps? Because considering the power fluctuation in rural areas of the country, it’s quite possible that these lamps (they are also procured from China), may fail. Mind you, it’s easy to say they have warranty of two years but more difficult to go to remote places to get a replacement. Hopefully the government would be able to supply these lamps at around this price for few more years.
Do send in your comments to me at miyer@charypublications.in
Publisher & Editor-In-Chief
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