India on Friday launched Gram Ujala, an ambitious scheme offering the world’s cheapest LED bulbs in rural areas at a mere ₹10, furthering its climate change strategy and strengthening its self-reliance credentials.
Union power and new and renewable energy minister Raj Kumar Singh launched the scheme, which comes with no government support or subsidy. In its first phase launched from Arrah in Bihar, 15 million LED bulbs will be distributed across villages of Arrah (Bihar), Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh), Vijaywada (Andhra Pradesh), Nagpur (Maharashtra), and western Gujarat.
The bulbs are offered by state-run Energy Efficiency Services Ltd’s subsidiary Convergence Energy Services Ltd (CESL) by leveraging scale.
Mint earlier reported about the proposed scheme for offering 600 million LED bulbs in rural areas at ₹10 per piece. According to EESL, India is currently the second-largest LED market in the world by value, with the Ujala scheme likely to help avoid peak electricity demand of 9,428 megawatts.
“Gram Ujala programme will be financed entirely through carbon credits and will be the first such programme in India,” said CESL in a statement.
Under the United Nations’ Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), the scheme will claim carbon credits. Also, under the new scheme, the rural consumer’s incandescent and CFL (compact fluorescent lamp) bulbs will be taken back.
“Under the programme, 7 watt and 12 watt LED bulbs with three years’ warranty will be given to rural consumers against submission of working incandescent bulbs. The Gram Ujala programme will be implemented in villages of the 5 districts only and consumers can exchange a maximum of 5 LED bulbs,” the statement said.
The government’s previous Ujala (Unnat Jyoti by Affordable Lighting for All) scheme had cut LED bulb prices to ₹70 apiece from around ₹310 in 2014.
Under Gram Ujala, the new scheme, the revenue earned from carbon credits will contribute ₹60 per LED bulb piece, with the balance ₹10 to be paid by the rural consumer.
“Further on, carbon credit documentation will be sent to UN accredited validators for inclusion into the Shine Program of activities. Carbon credits will be prepared under the Shine Program of Activities with an option for verifying under the Voluntary Carbon Standard, depending on the needs of buyers. Carbon Credit Buyers will also be sought through an open process based on initial discussions with the market,” the statement added.
In addition to helping improve energy access in rural areas, the mandatory domestic manufacturing clause in sourcing LED bulb tenders through the scheme will expedite India’s efforts to become an integral part of global supply chains, as firms look to move production lines out of China.
“If all 300 million lights in India were replaced, the total energy savings would be 40,743 million kWh/year, avoided peak demand of 22,743MW/year and CO2 reductions of 37 million tons per year,” the power ministry said in a statement.
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