BackLED bulbs to be available for under `44 a unit soon: Piyush Goyal
Power minister was speaking at an event celebrating distribution of over three crore LED bulbs across the country
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New Delhi: LED, or light-emitting diode, bulbs will be available for under ₹ 44 a unit soon, Union power minister Piyush Goyal said on Wednesday.
“Our aim is to bring down the prices of LED bulbs to ₹ 44 per unit. Earlier, I had talked about it in a lighter vein. But now this is the new target for us," said Goyal at a function celebrating distribution of over three crore LED bulbs across the country since January by state-run Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) under the government’s flagship initiative, the Domestic Efficient Lighting Programme (DELP).
The government hopes to touch the five crore mark soon and 15 crore LED bulbs by March 2016, he said.
EESL is sourcing LED bulbs for ₹ 73 as of June 2015, compared to ₹ 310 in February 2014, marking a reduction of over 75% in less than two years.
Goyal urged industry to make all the components of LED bulbs in India as part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Make in India initiative.
“We will encourage the Make In India campaign," Goyal said, urging representatives from the lighting industry to reduce retail prices of LED bulbs.
Modi launched DELP in January, to be executed across 100 cities. At present, the scheme is running in six states—Rajasthan, Delhi, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh—and the government is aiming to expand it to the entire country.
The three crore bulbs distributed so far will result in an annual energy savings of 4 billion kilowatt-hour (kwh), a capacity-addition avoidance of 900 megawatt (MW) and a cost savings of ₹ 304 crore, said an official statement.
Under DELP, residential consumers are provided with LED bulbs at a concessional rate of ₹ 100-105, against the market price of ₹ 350-450.
“Over the next few years, India will see a five-fold increase in electricity demand. A scheme like DELP is an example of India’s commitment to ensuring energy access and its continued efforts towards combating climate change," Goyal added.
Energy efficiency is among the main points in India’s commitment to reduce its carbon emission intensity by 30-35% by 2030.
“We are currently distributing more than 15 lakh LEDs every week and this number will only go up. EESL will cover the entire country by February 2016 and achieve distribution of 15 crore LED bulbs by March 2016," said Saurabh Kumar, managing director of EESL.
The target of DELP is to replace all the 77 crore incandescent bulbs sold in India with LED bulbs. This will result in reduction of a load of 20,000 MW, energy savings of 105 billion kwh and greenhouse gas emission savings of 80 million tonnes every year. The annual savings in electricity bills of consumers will be ₹ 40,000 crore, considering an average tariff of ₹ 4 per kwh.
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